recolle | (open) rough seas will be calm

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(open) rough seas will be calm

WHO: Jaeger (eventually) and you!
WHERE: Dreamscapes.
WHEN: 8/25.
WHAT: Dreamdives!
WARNINGS: Suicidal implications, threads are warned accordingly.

[You find yourself on a grassy plain. It's nighttime, and while this whole thing is probably incredibly surreal, the scenery is at least peaceful. You can see a dark building ahead of you.

If you look behind you, you'll notice that there's a large, thick forest. Listening for a moment will tell you that there's plenty of wildlife there, and it doesn't sound happy to see you. It's probably not a good idea to head that direction. But hey, if you really want to, there's nothing stopping you.

If you choose to approach the building, you'll hear the distant sound of waves crashing, but otherwise all is silent. It would almost be serene, if not for the ominous look of the building. It appears to be a very large manor. There are plenty of lights on inside despite the late hour, which gives you a little more light to see the building itself. For some reason there are massive chains decorating the left side of the building that don't actually seem to be there for any specific purpose, and above that are flags for... some reason. The whole thing is kind of an experience, and the gloomy atmosphere and isolated nature of the house probably aren't doing much to make you feel at ease.

Since the manor is most likely where you're headed, you might want to get a bit closer to the front door to check it out. Be careful, though - you won't be able to get too close without two guards spotting you. They're dressed in yellow uniforms complete with masks that hide the upper halves of their faces. They don't exactly look friendly; one of them has a crossbow in hand and the other has some kind of large daggers that look like they're attached to the back of his hands.

You'll find that there's a solid wall around the perimeter of the manor; you can hide here for a moment if you'd like. Climbing over the wall seems to be out of the question given the height of it and the spikes on top.

How do you want to proceed?]

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Yeager reassigned me.

[He hopes he sounds casual enough about it to be convincing.]

You must not have gotten the update yet.

What, you didn't get your new uniform yet?

[The second guard speaks up:] We've been told to stay out of the room, surely you got that update?

You've been told to stay out of the room. Now, if you'll excuse me.

[What happens if he tries to just... continue walking...]

[The guard with the knives brandishes them.]

Nice try, but no one's supposed to be in there. No exceptions. The girls are with him, no other guards are required.

So, who are you?

[Siiiiiiiiigh. If they didn't confirm where Jaeger was, he maybe could have thought about backing off, but since he definitely needs to find him...]

A friend of his. If you'll excuse me.

[Walking with one hand on the book in his satchel, because he definitely expects to get stabbed about a second from now.]

[Yep, you're probably going to need your book-scythe. The guard with the knives is pretty fast, he'll try to slice you while his buddy tries to aim a shot. Good luck, Shuji...]

[He's gonna get stabbed, there's pretty much nothing he can do about that except be thankful these clothes aren't his so he can ruin them with ink stains if he wants. Unfortunately for knife dude, Shuji is fairly fast himself - that whole 'not technically human' thing - and with how quickly his book turns into an actual weapon, he's definitely in range to whack the guy on the back of the head with the scythe.

Does crossbow dude have a reaction to him bleeding ink from a stab wound?]

[Just like the other guy, he's kind of startled by this because who does that. It takes him a moment to actually start aiming his crossbow, so you'll definitely have time to get close!]

[Yeager has weird friends, apparently!

Yeah he's also going in for the back of the head whack.]

[Aaaaand down he goes. These guys really aren't all that tough, but that's what you get when you're a mid-game boss.

Are you continuing on toward the room in the back, then?]

[He's going to take a moment to de-transform the scythe and also drink some more ink to heal, because he's not sure that the girls will be super friendly. ...Or Yeager, if that's Yeager in there and not Jaeger.

After that, yes, he'll try that room.]

[The door opens into a large bedroom - there's a nice looking bed underneath a window, but more alarmingly are the weapons displayed on the wall in patterns. They're definitely decoration, but who does that.

The stuff in the room probably isn't nearly as important as the people, however. As soon as you open the door, the red and green-haired girls from that painting will approach you. They're clearly standing in the way of the rest of the room and both are holding out swords like they're ready to fight. They don't move to attack, at least.

Behind them are two more people - the giant white-haired man from one of the paintings, and Jaeger. Yeager? It's kind of hard to tell, but he's dressed in Yeager's clothes. Both of the men have weapons: the giant has a massive greatsword and Jaeger's got his scythe.

All of them turn their attention to you once the door's open.]

No one's supposed to interfere. [That's the red-haired girl.]

Yeah, you shouldn't even be here! [The green-haired girl.]

[Sticking weapons everywhere is just part of Yeager's #aesthetic. Shuji's stopped being surprised at this point.

What he is surprised by is Yeager/Jaeger about to fight, and he automatically moves towards him before the girls pointing swords at him stop that.]

I want to hear that from Jaeger, not you. He doesn't have to do this on his own.

[There's nothing wrong with relying on other people sometimes. People who aren't mental constructs.]

He ordered us not to interfere. [That's the red-head, and she doesn't exactly sound pleased about it.

The green-haired girl speaks up next:] Yeah, and if he doesn't want us to help, why'd he want a random guard like you?

[Oh, right. Shuji pulls his mask off and tosses it aside, letting it clatter on the floor.]

I want to talk to Jaeger.

[Everyone in the room looks at you when the mask hits the floor, but three of them don't recognize you at all. Jaeger... it's difficult to say whether he recognizes you or not. He looks mildly amused, but it isn't long before his attention's back on the giant, because the man swings his sword with enough for that it'd probably take Jaeger's head off if he wasn't fast enough to dodge it.

The girls keep their attention on you despite the sounds of battle behind them.]

We're not letting you through and that's final.

...I don't want to hurt Yeager's family. But I - at least let me talk to him? Please? That's all I'm asking.

[When the tears spring up this time, they aren't forced. The thought of Jaeger being forced to fight his battles alone - even if it's by someone who means well - is painful to him.]

[Both girls look visibly uncomfortable when the tears start and the red-haired girl clams up. Her sister is faster to recover.]

He's not exactly in a position to do much talking, you know! And anyway, if we aren't allowed to fight with him, what makes you think you'd be allowed? He told us not to interfere, and we're his—

Droite. [Her sister recovers then, fixing the green-haired girl with a stern look before continuing. She then addresses you:] Who are you? You're not one of our guards.

My name is Shuji. He's my friend - my dear friend, who's seen me through so much, and I... I...

[The tears are just coming harder, sorry girls.]

I-if he wants to do it alone, it's fine, but he doesn't have to. I worry that he doesn't know that, sometimes, or else there's something that keeps him from opening up even to people who love him and only want to help.

[ohhh god this is so far above their pay grade—]

Yeager has us, and we'll always do whatever he asks. If he tells us to fight, we will. If he tells us not to interfere, we won't. That's just how it is.

[The red-haired girl is the first to speak and while she looks a little uneasy, her words are firm. Her sister is glancing behind them at Jaeger, though.]

...He didn't let us fight with him, though. Not in the end.

[That's Droite, and her sister looks at her in confusion. Droite continues, her words picking up speed as she goes.]

He... He had to go protect the Commandant, right? For... some reason. He didn't tell us. He didn't tell us a lot, did he? But he told us we couldn't interfere, that he had to fight alone, but he let us come with him and...

[Gauche still looks confused, but she interrupts her sister.]

That's enough. We owe Yeager our lives, so we'll continue to do whatever he asks. That... That's why we're here.

[Even she doesn't sound as certain anymore.]

But that's not right!

[It may be above their paygrade to deal with this, but the tears aren't stopping even as Shuji raises his voice.]

Sometimes the people you love do stupid things! Sometimes they ask you to do things that are bad for themselves! Even if they save your life, that doesn't mean you have to listen to them when they're being self-destructive. No, it means you can't listen to them!

You're not just his guards who have to always follow orders. You're people who love him, and want him to be happy, and sometimes that means telling him he's being dumb!

[He knows how self-destructive he is. He knows that the people he loves push past that. If they didn't - if they listened to everything he said, he'd be dead by now.]

Edited 2018-08-30 18:12 (UTC)

It's not our place to decide whether his decisions are dumb or not! We are his guards; that's what we were taken in and trained to do, that's—

[Gauche does get riled at that, but her sister cuts her off after a moment. Droite's eyes are downcast and she's quiet when she speaks.]

Do you remember when we were little? When we used to call him "father"?

Droite—

[Droite interrupts her again:] We didn't mind when things changed, because he adopted us. He raised us, and he trained us, and we became strong. So... it was okay when he said we'd be his bodyguards. And it was okay when he'd tell us to do stuff, like helping him escape or fighting for him. We didn't mind.

But... He was really hurting, wasn't he? He wanted to die. So he fought alone against those people even though he knew he'd lose and then... he let himself die.

[Gauche still looks confused for a moment, but eventually her expression softens a bit.] We didn't help. We followed orders until the end.

[Now they look like they're on the verge of tears, so this is going... well.....]

...When the people you love try to die. It's painful. So painful, like it's you dying instead of them.

[He thinks of Oda on the beach, telling him: he tried to kill himself. And he didn't want Shuji to know, because he didn't want Shuji to blame himself.]

And they're precious to you, so why - why don't they realize how precious they are? What could you have said, what could you have done to convince them...?

[As if there was any way Shuji wouldn't find out sooner or later, as if there was any way it wouldn't be agonizingly painful.]

But - it's not about you. It's that they were suffering, and you don't want the people you love to suffer.

[Whatever pain Shuji felt, it had to be nothing compared to Oda's. Or Yeager's. As much as he dislikes that man for causing him pain, he doesn't deserve-]

I don't want Jaeger to suffer. So - please. I beg you, please.

[Both girls are quiet during all of that, staring down at the floor instead of at Shuji. It takes them a moment, even after Shuji's done speaking, but eventually Gauche looks up.]

...We can't interfere. We've been given orders to stand guard, so that's what we'll do.

[Droite speaks up next:] But you've got no such orders. So...

[In unison, they both step back and then move around Shuji, toward the door.]

Good luck. [That's from both of them.]

Thank you.

[Shuji transforms his book into his scythe as he approaches the battle. He'll need it, especially because he plants himself directly in front of Jaeger.]

Mind if we take a ten minute break?

[That's directed at the other guy. Jaeger would probably be the easier one to convince, or at least the one less likely to stab him.]

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tw: suicidal implications

tw: suicidal implications

tw: suicide mention

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