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seasonsrpg2024-04-01 06:04 pm
urtitan) wrote in seasonsrpg2024-04-01 06:04 pm
Tarot: The World (Reversed)
WHO: Frieda Reiss
WHAT: Frieda is going through it (enormous struggle dump inside!)
WHEN: First half of April
WHERE: Abandoned Graveyard / Secret Getaway and other areas in the Seasonal Segments
WARNINGS: AoT-typical heavy topics - mention of genocide, murder, mental instability, violence, war, etc.
[Many things have been moving at a different pace for Frieda ever since she inherited the memories of her ancestors. This still holds true here in Ellipsa. On some days, she can live in the moment and enjoy spending time with her sister, the few friends she's made, and other people (neighbours, magic school classmates, vendors whose shops she's become a regular at), but on other days, everything she's learned about her homeworld's future since arriving here pulls her under and makes her ruminate for hours on end, lost between those new revelations and the painful history going back 2,000 years.
Lately, those days have become more and more common.]
1) Safe Zone: Mermaid Encounter
(OOC: Since a lot of Frieda's development is internal, I wanted to chronicle it, but as it's pure introspection, by all means skip ahead to the bottom of this humungous prompt if you'd like to!)
[Frieda's first month in Ellipsa was overshadowed by grief after she learned that in the not-too-far future, most of her family will be killed alongside herself. But eventually, her unbreakable inherited will helped her overcome that struggle. What of their deaths? All Eldians should die. It's only right if the royal family dies first. She accepted it, and with a calmer and clearer mind, she could finally focus on starting to unlock her magic and supporting the local ongoings, resolved to make the most of the time she had left.
However, her encounter with Eren, her unintended successor, made her question whether she wasn't too hasty to content herself with her fate.
Eren's resentment of how the truth was kept from the people of the Walls - doubtlessly shared by all of her subjects - made it clear that he doesn't want the Founding Titan to return into the royal family's hands, and Historia, Frieda's only surviving sibling, made it clear that she doesn't want to take it from her friend. In the future they experienced, the outside world failed to eradicate their people, "merely" breaking Wall Maria - which did cause thousands of deaths through its short- and mid-term consequences -, and everybody learned of the truths that the Reiss family hid for a century.
There will be no repeat of the 2 millennia of oppression by the Eldian Empire, given that Eren can't unlock the Founding Titan's full potential and the royal bloodline, should it regain possession of it, is prevented from doing so by the inherited vow, but the situation has nevertheless given Frieda many sleepless nights. In the face of the changed circumstances, her passive stance has started to shift.
I have to take the Founding Titan back from Eren. That's the first conclusion she arrives at. He told her that he'd never go home if he can help it, and she believes him - but what if he gets no say in the matter? What if he gets sent back to their homeworld against his will? It can happen. They both know that.
Much as the imperative to keep her people from becoming a threat to the world again dictates her decision, everything inside her recoils from it. She can't murder Eren! She couldn't murder anyone - not with her own hands, in any case. She knows all too well that all the blood her enforcers spilled within the Walls stains her hands nonetheless (and that of prior rulers' enforcers' victims, too, because she can't and won't exempt herself from bearing the sins of her ancestors). Eren is Historia's friend... What of it?, argues that reasonable voice inside of her, Historia is a disappointment for not acting in the best interest of humanity despite understanding our history. Who cares what she wants?
Frieda has to leave the apartment for longer and longer stretches of time, on occasion even hastily excusing herself to Historia to keep herself from angrily lashing out at her. Sometimes, she wants to grab and shake and even hit her for thinking that's it's acceptable for Eren to keep the Founding Titan. If you won't take it back for our family, I will! What are you even good for?! It takes all her strength to keep herself from attacking her own beloved sister like that, and when the urge eventually subsides, she's desolate each time.
However, after a while of agonising and trying to reason with different parts of herself, she manages to set aside the initial conclusion, for what is ultimately a very simple reason: If she took Eren's titan powers (most realistically by enlisting the services of an assassin, much as she does back home), he'd simply take them back from her once he'd be reborn into this world.
It's a given: Much as she doesn't want him to return home and resist the Eldian atonement plan, he doesn't want her to return and work towards its fulfillment either. For being ideological opponents, the two of them were reasonably cordial towards each other despite the palpable tension, but if she were to turn on him, he'd surely retaliate in kind. As it is, he holds the stronger position, having actual experience in using his titan's powers, and if he wanted to, he could already have taken hers. She mustn't disturb the current balance.
What can she do, then? Her silent internal struggle continues for days or weeks (she can't tell anymore, even though it's interspersed with uninterrupted stretches of normalcy and little joys - somehow!) until a realisation more bitter than anything prior dawns on her: There really is only one way to ensure that the Eldians of Paradis Island won't be a threat to the world anymore. If the outside world will fail to eradicate them, their ruler must do it.
He entire being refuses that solution. How could she possibly do that?! She can't even murder one person! All those innocent people..!! No! No!! But all Eldians must die. In her mind, she practically screams at the first king of the Walls. How dare you not finish what you started?! How dare you leave it to your successors? You couldn't do it because you loved your people? How do you think I feel?! But of course, there's only her own mind to answer her, and despite fighting against the resolution with all she has, she's drawn further down the path, exploring her practical options.
In that state, she can't bear the city. Even in quiet places, she may encounter people, and while they're not her subjects, she can't endure their innocent eyes on her, feeling beyond monstrous for what's going on in her head. As such, she takes to the safe zones in the Segments to find some solitude.
She avoids the cold Winter Segment - the watchtower is close to the city, and people pass by there with relative frequency. Likewise, the Temple of Life in the Summer Segment is intermittently frequented by people coming to gather fruits or tackle the video game simulator inside. The waters of Ellipsa have provided an embrace and escape for her ever since her arrival, and so, she can ultimately be encountered in mermaid form, resting at the bottom of the Secret Getaway's lake-pond or on the safe side of the iron fence separating the Autumn Segment's flooded graveyard from the monster-infested wilderness.
It's unlikely that anyone else would dive in either body of water, but who knows! If she doesn't encounter anyone in the depths, then at some point, when she finally feels like herself again, having battled the mental images of death and suffering away for the day, she has to exit the water, and perhaps it's then that she and the other person visiting the safe area startle each other through her sudden appearance on the water's surface. Whether underwater or above, she'll call out in the same way.]
Oh..! I'm sorry, you scared me!
[She says that as if she isn't the weird one for popping out of a place that's definitely not a designated swimming area!]
2) Unsafe Zone: Titan Encounter
(OOC: Feel free to choose the Segment, otherwise I'll use an RNG!)
[In the end, Frieda manages to stabilise herself to a degree by resolving to do what Eren decided: To never return home. It's painful to imagine that she'll never see her family - safe for Historia - and other dearly beloved people again, but she simply can't abide the thought of having to complete what her ancestor wasn't able to even begin. She'll rather follow her successor's example and remove the Founding Titan and its powers from their world forever. That way, at least any ever-so-remote chance of total titan domination will be gone.
Of course, the conflict between her inherited will - which had to adjust to an unforeseen change for the first time since its implementation - and her still persevering wishes as a human being remain almost impossible to reconcile. She has to make compromises with herself. Since she can't guarantee the length of her stay in Ellipsa, she needs to at least prepare for what must be done if she is sent back to her homeworld.
Unwilling to look at the horrible methods she'd need to employ in such a scenario, she instead puts her focus on something very basic that she nevertheless neglected: Her control over her titan manifestation. If she is forced to return home, it won't do if Eren's father kills her before she can do anything to prevent history from playing out as Eren and Historia experienced it.
She feels ashamed to have outright squandered a quarter of her remaining lifetime, idly waiting for her and her people's extermination... how could she have been so naive?! But she always was, wasn't she? She bitterly remembers her idealistic 15 year old self, volunteering to inherit the Founding Titan from her uncle with a smile, confident that she wouldn't give in to her ancestors' ghosts, without even knowing of the history of the world. Stupid. Ignorant. Selfish.
She closes her eyes to try and ground herself. She's on a mission and needs to focus. As a titan, it should be a lot easier to identify safe areas for new teleport- and barrier stone installations. Having tested out beforehand that she'll still be conscious of herself and her objective while in titan form, she deems it safest to transform a good distance away from the teleport stone she just used to travel here. After all, she wouldn't want to startle someone else arriving!
Little does she know that there are still reckless people venturing into the Segments on their own despite all the warnings - and not necessarily by ground, given the many airship license holders, winged mount owners, and people able to fly either naturally or by way of animal transformation! As such, should she really be surprised when someone approaches her 13 metre tall dark-haired titan? That is, if she'll even see them coming...]
WHAT: Frieda is going through it (enormous struggle dump inside!)
WHEN: First half of April
WHERE: Abandoned Graveyard / Secret Getaway and other areas in the Seasonal Segments
WARNINGS: AoT-typical heavy topics - mention of genocide, murder, mental instability, violence, war, etc.
[Many things have been moving at a different pace for Frieda ever since she inherited the memories of her ancestors. This still holds true here in Ellipsa. On some days, she can live in the moment and enjoy spending time with her sister, the few friends she's made, and other people (neighbours, magic school classmates, vendors whose shops she's become a regular at), but on other days, everything she's learned about her homeworld's future since arriving here pulls her under and makes her ruminate for hours on end, lost between those new revelations and the painful history going back 2,000 years.
Lately, those days have become more and more common.]
1) Safe Zone: Mermaid Encounter
(OOC: Since a lot of Frieda's development is internal, I wanted to chronicle it, but as it's pure introspection, by all means skip ahead to the bottom of this humungous prompt if you'd like to!)
[Frieda's first month in Ellipsa was overshadowed by grief after she learned that in the not-too-far future, most of her family will be killed alongside herself. But eventually, her unbreakable inherited will helped her overcome that struggle. What of their deaths? All Eldians should die. It's only right if the royal family dies first. She accepted it, and with a calmer and clearer mind, she could finally focus on starting to unlock her magic and supporting the local ongoings, resolved to make the most of the time she had left.
However, her encounter with Eren, her unintended successor, made her question whether she wasn't too hasty to content herself with her fate.
Eren's resentment of how the truth was kept from the people of the Walls - doubtlessly shared by all of her subjects - made it clear that he doesn't want the Founding Titan to return into the royal family's hands, and Historia, Frieda's only surviving sibling, made it clear that she doesn't want to take it from her friend. In the future they experienced, the outside world failed to eradicate their people, "merely" breaking Wall Maria - which did cause thousands of deaths through its short- and mid-term consequences -, and everybody learned of the truths that the Reiss family hid for a century.
There will be no repeat of the 2 millennia of oppression by the Eldian Empire, given that Eren can't unlock the Founding Titan's full potential and the royal bloodline, should it regain possession of it, is prevented from doing so by the inherited vow, but the situation has nevertheless given Frieda many sleepless nights. In the face of the changed circumstances, her passive stance has started to shift.
I have to take the Founding Titan back from Eren. That's the first conclusion she arrives at. He told her that he'd never go home if he can help it, and she believes him - but what if he gets no say in the matter? What if he gets sent back to their homeworld against his will? It can happen. They both know that.
Much as the imperative to keep her people from becoming a threat to the world again dictates her decision, everything inside her recoils from it. She can't murder Eren! She couldn't murder anyone - not with her own hands, in any case. She knows all too well that all the blood her enforcers spilled within the Walls stains her hands nonetheless (and that of prior rulers' enforcers' victims, too, because she can't and won't exempt herself from bearing the sins of her ancestors). Eren is Historia's friend... What of it?, argues that reasonable voice inside of her, Historia is a disappointment for not acting in the best interest of humanity despite understanding our history. Who cares what she wants?
Frieda has to leave the apartment for longer and longer stretches of time, on occasion even hastily excusing herself to Historia to keep herself from angrily lashing out at her. Sometimes, she wants to grab and shake and even hit her for thinking that's it's acceptable for Eren to keep the Founding Titan. If you won't take it back for our family, I will! What are you even good for?! It takes all her strength to keep herself from attacking her own beloved sister like that, and when the urge eventually subsides, she's desolate each time.
However, after a while of agonising and trying to reason with different parts of herself, she manages to set aside the initial conclusion, for what is ultimately a very simple reason: If she took Eren's titan powers (most realistically by enlisting the services of an assassin, much as she does back home), he'd simply take them back from her once he'd be reborn into this world.
It's a given: Much as she doesn't want him to return home and resist the Eldian atonement plan, he doesn't want her to return and work towards its fulfillment either. For being ideological opponents, the two of them were reasonably cordial towards each other despite the palpable tension, but if she were to turn on him, he'd surely retaliate in kind. As it is, he holds the stronger position, having actual experience in using his titan's powers, and if he wanted to, he could already have taken hers. She mustn't disturb the current balance.
What can she do, then? Her silent internal struggle continues for days or weeks (she can't tell anymore, even though it's interspersed with uninterrupted stretches of normalcy and little joys - somehow!) until a realisation more bitter than anything prior dawns on her: There really is only one way to ensure that the Eldians of Paradis Island won't be a threat to the world anymore. If the outside world will fail to eradicate them, their ruler must do it.
He entire being refuses that solution. How could she possibly do that?! She can't even murder one person! All those innocent people..!! No! No!! But all Eldians must die. In her mind, she practically screams at the first king of the Walls. How dare you not finish what you started?! How dare you leave it to your successors? You couldn't do it because you loved your people? How do you think I feel?! But of course, there's only her own mind to answer her, and despite fighting against the resolution with all she has, she's drawn further down the path, exploring her practical options.
In that state, she can't bear the city. Even in quiet places, she may encounter people, and while they're not her subjects, she can't endure their innocent eyes on her, feeling beyond monstrous for what's going on in her head. As such, she takes to the safe zones in the Segments to find some solitude.
She avoids the cold Winter Segment - the watchtower is close to the city, and people pass by there with relative frequency. Likewise, the Temple of Life in the Summer Segment is intermittently frequented by people coming to gather fruits or tackle the video game simulator inside. The waters of Ellipsa have provided an embrace and escape for her ever since her arrival, and so, she can ultimately be encountered in mermaid form, resting at the bottom of the Secret Getaway's lake-pond or on the safe side of the iron fence separating the Autumn Segment's flooded graveyard from the monster-infested wilderness.
It's unlikely that anyone else would dive in either body of water, but who knows! If she doesn't encounter anyone in the depths, then at some point, when she finally feels like herself again, having battled the mental images of death and suffering away for the day, she has to exit the water, and perhaps it's then that she and the other person visiting the safe area startle each other through her sudden appearance on the water's surface. Whether underwater or above, she'll call out in the same way.]
Oh..! I'm sorry, you scared me!
[She says that as if she isn't the weird one for popping out of a place that's definitely not a designated swimming area!]
2) Unsafe Zone: Titan Encounter
(OOC: Feel free to choose the Segment, otherwise I'll use an RNG!)
[In the end, Frieda manages to stabilise herself to a degree by resolving to do what Eren decided: To never return home. It's painful to imagine that she'll never see her family - safe for Historia - and other dearly beloved people again, but she simply can't abide the thought of having to complete what her ancestor wasn't able to even begin. She'll rather follow her successor's example and remove the Founding Titan and its powers from their world forever. That way, at least any ever-so-remote chance of total titan domination will be gone.
Of course, the conflict between her inherited will - which had to adjust to an unforeseen change for the first time since its implementation - and her still persevering wishes as a human being remain almost impossible to reconcile. She has to make compromises with herself. Since she can't guarantee the length of her stay in Ellipsa, she needs to at least prepare for what must be done if she is sent back to her homeworld.
Unwilling to look at the horrible methods she'd need to employ in such a scenario, she instead puts her focus on something very basic that she nevertheless neglected: Her control over her titan manifestation. If she is forced to return home, it won't do if Eren's father kills her before she can do anything to prevent history from playing out as Eren and Historia experienced it.
She feels ashamed to have outright squandered a quarter of her remaining lifetime, idly waiting for her and her people's extermination... how could she have been so naive?! But she always was, wasn't she? She bitterly remembers her idealistic 15 year old self, volunteering to inherit the Founding Titan from her uncle with a smile, confident that she wouldn't give in to her ancestors' ghosts, without even knowing of the history of the world. Stupid. Ignorant. Selfish.
She closes her eyes to try and ground herself. She's on a mission and needs to focus. As a titan, it should be a lot easier to identify safe areas for new teleport- and barrier stone installations. Having tested out beforehand that she'll still be conscious of herself and her objective while in titan form, she deems it safest to transform a good distance away from the teleport stone she just used to travel here. After all, she wouldn't want to startle someone else arriving!
Little does she know that there are still reckless people venturing into the Segments on their own despite all the warnings - and not necessarily by ground, given the many airship license holders, winged mount owners, and people able to fly either naturally or by way of animal transformation! As such, should she really be surprised when someone approaches her 13 metre tall dark-haired titan? That is, if she'll even see them coming...]
no subject
And you are one of those capable of shifting back and forth, and thus royalty? I hope you can forgive my lack of manners in that case!
[He says with a chuckle and leans in playfully. He was not, in fact, sorry at all. He hardly saw anything unsettling about this trick of hers. Rather he saw someone with a natural raw power, and that just made her even more attractive to him.
So his reaction is just to flirt. Sorry Frieda.]
You’ve been holding it on me. I would venture to bet that you’re just as lovely in either form.
no subject
I have to disappoint your expectations there. Titans are hideous. They're distortions of the human form. I haven't seen my own titan, admittedly, but I don't assume that it'll be any different.
[She really can't remember anything about her succession ceremony - only that her beloved uncle was gone afterwards.]
As for my status, my ancestor Karl Reiss put an end to the Eldian Empire a century ago. He gave up his name and title and exiled himself and his people to an island so the continent could recover. As such, I can hardly call myself royalty.
CW fish cannibalism
He was just going to keep stroking her face and petting her hair, though there was an added enthusiasm now.]
Perhaps from a human standpoint, but I find there is beauty in raw power. Humans focus too much on the shell and not the potential behind it.
Though I suppose I too can be guilty of that. After all, the one I wrote off as a helpless little rabbit was just hiding her fangs all along. You are full of surprises Miss Riess.
[He chuckled and rolled on his back and folded his hands over his stomach (at least as much as he could with the webbing between his fingers), pausing his attentions on her for the sake of being theatrical. One good turn deserved another, and tors was clearly a heavy topic for her. She might benefit from a brief pause before she continued. After all he didn’t yet know what had driven her to hide herself away.]
Since we’re airing out all of our dirty little secrets- I did devour all of my siblings save for Floyd.
[His way of confessing and putting that conversation from months ago to a proper end. The scales were balanced, they knew what the other kept to themselves, it was safe for her to know.]
no subject
Much as he kept reassuring her with comforting gestures, she likewise runs her hands over his tail as she keeps holding it to her chest. Upsetting as she finds it that he essentially killed his unhatched siblings, his prior explanations about life in the sea - along with the allusion to that very incident - prepared her for it.]
...
It's an instinct for young eel merfolk, isn't it? Since there wouldn't be enough food in the sea for all of you?
[She just needs to get that confirmed, and she'll be able to make peace with it. As long as he didn't kill his siblings deliberately, she can accept it. She feels like a huge hypocrite, given the acts of brutality her ancestors committed and the equally horrible atonement she sees herself forced to enact if she can't avoid a return to her world, but even so she can't help her human sensibilities.]
no subject
He could offer some assurance he supposed, and perhaps the different perspective would do her some good. Probably not but he could hope.]
It’s difficult for a human to understand, but one isn’t exactly born with a sense of human morality. Upon hatching I saw the other eggs, and I was afraid of them. I knew that what was inside would try and kill me should any of them get out.
…And I was also ravenously hungry. I managed to solve both problems at once.
[Should he be joking about this? Probably not. Is he Going to stop? No. His smile doesn’t even falter throughout the conversation at all.]
So the best way I can put it in perspective… in essence I first became self aware surrounded by sleeping monsters that may as well have been made out of cake.
no subject
I... I'd have eaten the cake monsters, too.
[If nothing else, she wants to make it clear that she doesn't hold it against him!]
But what my people did is unforgivable. The other human races were no threat to us- not any more than vice versa, in any case. We took avail of our powers simply because we could, enslaved them, and built our empire on their blood and tears. That's why I'm so worried about the coming conflict back home, all the more since the Founding Titan - the one that can control all others - will be taken away from the old royal family.
[She knows that he'll be able to able to infer what that means for her, but she's trying to soften the blow!]
no subject
and then his thoughts jumped into trying to find ways for her to avoid her fate, but rational resignation set in fairly quick. If they were successful in avoiding her fate, then she would not have been told about her future, would she? Others have experienced it, therefore it was set in stone. Future futile efforts to avert the inevitable could come later.
But then he closed his eyes to calm himself, it was certainly a heavy blow to him, but it must be far worse for her. He was no stranger to sudden and abrupt deaths, but that's just how he expected to go out as well. He couldn't imagine having to live with knowing when and how it would happen before the fact. Absolutely justified reason for having a crisis at the bottom of a lake in his opinion.
But that left the matter of trying to comfort her, which... was certainly not his forte. The best he could think of was something he used to do to settle Floyd when they were children, so he placed his hands on either side of her face and leaned in so that their foreheads were touching.]
I suppose that's all the more reason to make the most of our little adventure here in Elipsa, isn't it?
no subject
Frieda watches the feelings pass over his face, and it gives her a bitter pang. Now, her fate is hurting him too. Her frown steepens as her own emotions battle inside of her, and when he puts their foreheads together, trying to cheer her up, she pushes his hands away and jolts up from the pondbed with a strong beat of her tail, stirring up mud in the process.]
That's what I was intending to do - as long as I believed the theft of the Founding Titan would ring in the end of my nation! If I have to die, so be it. If my people have to die, so be it. I was ready to return home and face the world's judgement. But for the Eldians to wage war against the rest of the world again? I can't allow it! I won't accept that future, Jade!
[Her anger isn't directed at him, but he unwittingly triggered it with the same easy-going approach that consoled her moments ago. Alas, the mind of the Founding Titan can be fickle.]
gagtag
no subject
Frieda, dear, weren't you just fretting over my sibling situation just a breath ago?
CW: War, Violence, Rape
You can't compare those situations. I told you about the Eldian Empire. Do I need to go into detail? Do I need to tell you how my people butchered all those who were too weak to be of use to them - the children, the elderly, the sick, the impaired? How they selected others as breeding stock to replenish our ranks with Eldian blood? How any transgression, and be it as feeble or unintentional, would be met with the utmost cruelty - being maimed or killed, or having to watch it be done to one's loved ones?
[She puts a hand on her head, wincing, perhaps trying to shake off the mental images. She may or may not be trying to get a hold of herself.]
Meanwhile, you just devoured your siblings out of instinct! There was nothing instinctive about the sins my people need to atone for.
no subject
[He sounds more confused if anything, but honestly his first thought is that she’s somehow fallen ill or eaten something peculiar.
Perhaps it’s a bit patronizing, but as he speaks he starts looking her over to try and figure out what’s wrong. Once more he gently placed his hands on either side of her face, but he’s clearly looking for something, and is only half paying attention to the conversation. If she fussed, he’d become somewhat less gentle and more firm in his hold on her.
He pulls down her bottom eyelid, nothing wrong there, then lifted her lip to look at her gums, normal color so she was breathing fine.]
There was a time where mages were nearly hunted to extinction, and of course there were numerous wars. Fae against humans, mages against non-mages. Merfolk may have avoided all out war due to the isolation of our environment, but we still did not leave a very favorable impression given our tendency to see humans as an alternative food source when times were tough.
But seeing as all who participated are long dead, there’s hardly any reason to hold grudges or punish ourselves for something we personally had nothing to do with.
[He pulled back looking thoughtful as he tried to think of what else it could be. A fever maybe? Well, he supposes it was only a matter of time before he got to return the favor with the ointment incident. He’d just slip his fingers under one of her gills and gently press drown to check her temperature. It would be incredibly uncomfortable- Jade was not kidding when he’d said he’d felt it all the way up in his nose.]
Hm. No fever either. Frieda, have you eaten anything peculiar recently by any chance?
no subject
Regardless of that, she heard what he said, and there's a part of her that finds consololation in his words. Is it true that every race will commit the same atrocities if only they get their hands on enough power? On some level, she's sure of it. What has become of the continent back home since the Eldians left for Paradis Island? How does Marley, risen from the long oppression, rule the land? Still, she can't help but push back.]
I haven't! Do you-- do you think I'm saying these things because I'm delirious or sick?
[All Eldians should die! Why don't you understand that?! But Jade's words - "All who participated are long dead" - reaches the part of her that regularly reels against her inherited will, the part that balks at the prospect of having to exterminate her own people. She puts her head in her hands.]
I know that all wars are terrible! But we overdid it! Do you know for how long the Eldian Empire went on like that? For two-thousand years!
You know what, just presume war, cannibalism, and violence are going to remain a CW for a while
Since, as far as I’m aware, Eldians also have children.
[A serious matter but Jade couldn’t help but chuckle as he delivered the last line. Something about the sheer absurdity of her logic just tickled him.
If she wasn’t ill, then she was completely unhinged and that was actually hilarious to think about. It was an impressive level of double standards that he has never seen before. It didn’t change his feelings for her at all, he saw it as just another one of her silly and amusing little quirks. Just another of Frieda’s surprises. Sure, some may balk in the face of a woman that couldn’t bear to put live bait on a fishing hook, yet so readily spoke of decimating her own kind, but those people were cowards.
Also he absolutely did not believe she’d actually be capable of going through with it. Just looking at the crisis she was having currently.]
And both all victims and perpetrators of the atrocities are long dead, and therefore neither will care what you do. The amount of time past doesn’t change that.
Besides, from a pure survival standpoint, it was a logical path to take- not that I agree with it of course.
[He may not be the most morally upright individual by human standards, but he had SOME limits.]
But how can you be certain that, had there only been peace, that another nation would not have found a way to steal or adopt your abilities?
And if two or more nations with such power went to war then your entire species would probably go extinct- not unlike an elver failing to devour his siblings and causing them all to starve, fight, and kill each other for food.
A wise move!
Something about his consistently chipper attitude aggravates Frieda to no end, much as it does help lighten the heavy mood. Perhaps, a part of her feels indignant about him all but shrugging off the atrocities that are so heavy on her mind and heart that she enshrined a non-aggression vow into her bloodline. (That wasn't her.)]
Eldians have children, yes, and that's frankly part of the problem. As long as there are Eldians, the threat of the titans will remain in my world. If they were gone, no other race could steal or adopt our powers! Unlike your kind, titans are an anomaly, a degradation of humanity!
no subject
[It seemed rather wasteful to simply get rid of something so potentially useful. Even in most modern worlds, being able turn into a giant creature with the dexterity and traits of a human would be a boon.]
Cultish self-righteousness aside, Eldians have as much a right to exist as anyone else, and I say that as an objective third party. I’m sure if you asked about it on the network, most if not all would agree with me.
“My people committed terrible war crimes so long ago that everyone involved is long dead. Should my people be destroyed anyway?” isn’t as morally upright as you seem to believe. It’s actually impressively delusional.
[Which is ironic and hilarious. He actually hopes she does because it would be a hilarious example of “I told you so”.
Of course he also goes right back to flirting after calling her delusional. He rested his chin on her shoulder and let his tail loosely coil around hers, enjoying keeping it bump and brush against hers affectionately.]
Though in truth there’s only one Eldian that matters to me… well, perhaps two. You would be quite sad without your sister. The fate of the rest hardly matters to me.
[So he was just arguing because it was hilarious and bizarre- and he originally thought she was ill.
Actually he still wasn’t writing that off.]
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Enough!! I will hear no more from you on the matter! How dare you, an immoral fishman, judge whether my people have a right to exist or not?!
[He'll probably tease her about that until the cows come home later, and once she's done having her "episode", she'll more likely than not be mortified with herself... but right now, that's how she tries to shut him down.]
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I am fairly certain that having an unbiased third party gauge your actions was considered a wise course of action. Ah, but that is on me, it would seem I overestimated your ability to think this through logically. My apologies, I will know better than to make such a mistake again.
[He says in the most insincerely apologetic tone, barely holding back the chuckles. But he can't have her swimming off on him in a huff, so the moment she gets her distance from him, he darts around to block her escape route to the surface.]
But you've got me curious, this isn't the Frieda I know. She may huff and puff over this and that, but the way she speaks is quite different. Might I ask what exactly is going on?
[And he leans in, looking her over again, taking in her expression and mannerisms... and making it clear this is his domain. If he wants her to remain here, then that's exactly what's going to happen. Given that she did not pull out her little giant trick when their lives were being threatened, he had his doubts he had to worry about it being pulled out for the sake of a petty argument.]
You see, I would hate to have to resort to more...unfair methods against one with no natural resistance to magic. Takes the sport out of it.
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When Jade blocks her path, she's quite tempted to smack him with her tail just like he taught her to - but that'd hardly be in line with her vow of non-aggression! She clenches her fists in futile anger.]
What are you implying?! I have said what I wanted to say! Make way for me!
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Now, now. None of that. You know, I have no doubts you've encountered my brother's signature spell- "Bind the Heart" during your time with him. He tends to be rather vocal about it- but you know nothing of mine.
By design of course, the fewer that know, the stronger it is.
[After all, if one knew he could compel the truth from them, they would no doubt be more on guard around him, thus making the spell's chances of success lessen.]
You have nothing to fear, I mean you no harm- now look into my eye. Shock the Heart.
[The spell would leave her very briefly dizzy as the magic invaded her mind, but it would not outright control her. There would be no shift in personality as much as it removed the filter that kept one's mouth shut, it brought forth a compulsion to speak frankly. It did tend to work better in those going through some sort of emotional turmoil, be it fear, anger, or anything else. Even if Frieda had some resistance to his magic, her current penchant for angry tirades would have likely made the spell succeed.
And then the smile was gone, his expression stern. As amusing as her shift in personality was, it was becoming redundant and overstaying its welcome.]
Now, lets try this again: What is going on, and what has Frieda so changed?
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...
I'm the same Frieda you've always known. I've just been trying to hide these mood shifts from you. They come from the vow of non-aggression towards the other races that King Karl passed on down his lineage along with the Founding Titan. I agree with him - I don't want us Eldians to harm anyone ever again -, but I don't want our people to suffer, either.
[It really is that simple, boiled down to the basics, but how hard can it be to express her struggle this succinctly when she's adrift like a buoy in the conflicting emotions and overwhelming decisions that need to be made!]
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[That would explain why she never made use of her natural defense, even to save her self. A waste in his opinion, but if something was preventing her from doing so... that certainly added a new layer of things.]
Can you act against this vow? Do you truly agree with him, or are you compelled to?
[...and he wondered just how strong this vow was- already it was conflicting itself. She wanted to exterminate her own kind, but also she didn't. Perhaps he could... poke a few more holes in it while she was in this state.
He would only be able to do this once, so he had better make it count.]
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...
After I understood our history and saw what suffering we brought to the world, I understood why King Karl acted in this way. His will compels me, like my predecessors. It made me accept that the end would come for all of us, a repayment for our sins.
[Being forced to explain it all clearly, separating out which viewpoint is inherently hers and which her ancestor's, makes her agitation subside, giving way to what seems like exhaustion.]
But I recently learned that most of my people will survive and learn about the truth - up until now, I was the only person in our nation who knew. King Karl erased everybody else's memories when he exiled them to our island a hundred years ago. That revelation... agitated me, or rather, it shook my vow. It's my duty to the world to ensure that the Eldians won't rise as a threat again.
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Alright this next bit was going to be tricky because the only way to trip this whole thing up was to pretend like he had a strong sense of morality. So he was going to have to do a looooot of bullshitting.]
Have you considered that perhaps the vow was flawed? How can a people learn from the past if they have forgotten it?
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I have considered that. I think that the people living in the Walls today are innocent.
[She struggles for a moment, frowning and closing her eyes before her expression smooths out again and she reopens them.]
They're sinners. No one ever atoned for Eldia's crimes, and its desdendants today are only alive by the mercy of the world that granted them an extension. Every Eldian is a potential titan, a potential threat.
...
I-- I hate King Karl for not having everyone executed back then. Now, I have to...
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