urtitan: (Headache)
Frieda Reiss ([personal profile] urtitan) wrote in [community profile] 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...]
ideel: (32)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-21 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I really like you, and this ability of yours just happens to be very fascinating to me. I would say it certainly does not detract from how lovely you are.

[Not even hiding it. He's likes that she can turn into a giant woman and he's not going to lie about it. He knows what he's about.]

How interesting. So if I were to do this-

[And with her hands occupied piloting the flesh giant, Frieda is powerless to stop his tickling onslaught.

Okay maybe not an ONSLAUGHT if just because he doesn't want Frieda to accidentally make this thing roll over, but enough that he's going to watch this thing wiggle hilariously.
]
ideel: (46)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-21 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[He does, fortunately, know when to let up. Normally such antics were reserved for his brother when he was in one of his moods, which meant he had to be very careful with how he went about it lest they wind up in one of their catastrophic fights.

Granted, in this case it was lies catastrophic fight and more that he needed to hold onto her once she started swaying- but ooooh is he laughing up a storm. His entire day had been made. That was the funniest damn thing!

So with his arms around her in a stabilizing hug, he hid his face in her shoulder to try and mask his laughter.

He wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
]
Edited 2024-04-21 23:45 (UTC)
ideel: (46)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-22 11:49 am (UTC)(link)
[And his head snaps up at that.]

Is that a promise?

[Girl you walked right into that one, you should know better. The only thing he was threatened with was a good time.]
ideel: (32)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-22 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[There was, of course, a very primal fear of being devoured. It was something he and Floyd had faced often growing up. So he’d be lying if he said that suddenly being right above a giant throat didn’t set him a teeny bit on edge.

He was, however, also a total masochist and there was something about being completely at her mercy that turned him on. Of course he was still helping himself under control, and he was able to shift himself a little closer to her, and a little farther from the eating people part of the titan.
]

Generally yes, but I think I could make a special exception for you.

[A demi-bluff. But only demi. He’d rather not be wholesale devoured, but if she’s got a biting kink she wants to indulge he’d be happy to be her target.]
ideel: (31)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-23 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
And what of that little vow of pacifism of yours? I'm beginning to think this ancestor of yours just doesn't like me.

[He wouldn't have it any other way of course, because honestly he wasn't terribly fond of her ancestor. Dead people should stay dead.

But this was really more about teasing her and calling her bluff. Making Jabs at her ancestor was just a perk.
]

Are there exceptions for "immoral fishmen"?

[Because that's still hilarious to him. She's never living it down.]
ideel: (86)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-23 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[He did indeed catch her fighting the switch, which, much to his amusement, proved him right.]

My, my. I spoke my words in jest, but it would seem as though there’s truth to it. That’s a shame, I truly don’t mind this… Karl, was it? I simply have no respect for him.

[Which is honestly probably worse when it comes to matters related to Jade. He had no use for a coward with a room temperature IQ and the backbone of a jellyfish.

This probably should fall under the category of “disliking someone”, but Jade would argue the semantics until he died.

As the way out opened he merely stared at it for a moment instead climbed further upwards to take a seat on some of the fleshy mass holding Frieda in place. He wondered if that would put the titan’s… something to sleep. Arm? Leg? He wouldn’t know.

Frieda did mention the big flesh gollum was difficult to control, and Jade didn’t think it would be in anyone’s best interests if she had an episode while piloting it. Best to stay close and keep watch from the inside.
]

Anyway, I would much rather keep my present company.
ideel: (35)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-23 08:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Mercy is a tool for the weak to feel better about their inability to make dire decisions. All I hear is an irrelevant old man using his descendants as mouthpieces for his impressively nonsensical and contradictory opinions, because he couldn’t even die properly.

[And this is all said with the most cheerful and polite tone. He does not particularly care to be bothered with with nonsense at the moment, so he’s just breezing through it.

He would rather get back to more important matters, like flirting.
]

Now, if I could have my Frieda back I would greatly appreciate it. I’m still “shooting my shot” as it were.
ideel: (32)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-23 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
You’re cherry-picking my argument. You cannot accept my take on mercy without also acknowledging that this Karl is… [You know what, he’s going to steal one from Vil.] a complete and utter potato of a person.

My point was I could at least have a shed more respect for an individual that was only an idiot rather than a spineless idiot.

[Sometimes he envies his brother’s shameless when it came to being crass, because there’s a joke about deep-throating here that’s going to go completely to waste.

Anyway, he’s wormed his way next to her to affectionately rest his head on her shoulder, both because he wasn’t giving up his attempts at flirting, and to make this as awkward as possible to her inherited will. Frieda would know the mischief in his eyes though, this in only step one. Jade currently banking on her ancestor NOT noticing, and being too caught up in the self righteous soap boxing.
]

I am personally rather glad that he was a coward, since I would say I have immensely benefited from it.
ideel: (25)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-23 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Counterpoint:

[And that was just the perfect opening to give Frieda's cheek a nice good play bite. Gentle as always, he doesn't want to maul her face, but his teeth are still sharp and it is no doubt very uncomfortable.

Get wrecked Karl. Who's on the menu now?
]
Edited (you fell asleep and left me alone witht he edit button as I progressively get worse ideas as the night goes on) 2024-04-24 01:10 (UTC)
ideel: eel (15)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-24 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, unfortunately for Karl’s will, this is both incredibly amusing to him, as well a huge turn on.

He was initially jostled about, but like an infuriatingly resilient popcorn kernel, he finds a nice fleshy wall and seems to wedge himself in place. A partial transformation- in his merform he had built-in defenses against being devoured, namely the number of long jagged spines over his forearms and back, not to mention his claws. Even he wouldn’t be able to disengage himself from the spot easily unless he pushed forward and flattened the spines out retracted them altogether.

The only thing he was mildly displeased was the tearing of his dorm uniform. That was also the reason for the “partial” transformation. If he tore through his pants then returning to the city in his human form would be rather awkward.
]

My, my. What an adorable first attempt at hunting. Clumsy, impulsive, and lacking in any forethought, but I would not hold Frieda’s ancestor to standards I know him to be incapable of.

[And his tone is infuriatingly patronizing, while being played off as him being genuinely considerate. Like he’s commenting on a child’s drawing where they failed to color within the lines.]

Would you like some tips?
ideel: (31)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-25 10:28 am (UTC)(link)
Well, if your kind were truly so easy to eat, then you would have gone extinct ages ago. You clearly evolved to survive just as I have. And your kind already kill off your weak regularly, whether you devour them or allow them to starve on the streets, the end result is the same.

We are not so different- save for the pompous self-righteousness, and delusions of self-importance, of course.

[It was a truly hilarious trait of humans. They tended to believe they were somehow above the laws of nature, just because a number of them managed to have a relatively cushy life.

But Frieda’s people have taken it to a newer, funnier, level.

He could laugh about it later, currently they were at a stalemate, and that simply wouldn’t do. He knew he would win a battle of attrition, either Frieda would front again, or she’d presumably grow exhausted. But that wouldn’t be a fun win.

He needed to puzzle out some of the workings of this thing and think through a plan or several that did not compromise his current advantage. He curiously started looking at the fleshy tendrils that connected to Frieda and the… tumor-like formation she was wedged in.

He could reach one such tendril fairly easily, should he dislodge an arm… yes he would do just that- it would somewhat compromise his cushy hiding corner, but not enough that he’d be immediately shaken loose.

So he would give that tendril a curious twang… while looking “Frieda” right in the eye.
]
ideel: (76)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-25 02:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, struck a nerve did I?

[Whether he was speaking literally or figuratively was anyone’s guess, since it would seem he somehow managed to strike them both at once.

For the moment he was going to focus on the literal nerve he’d poked before, but this time he he tore it from the fleshy wall near him as he grabbed it, and in a smooth motion retracted his spines briefly and leapt from his spot to the fleshy mass containing Frieda. His claws kept him held in place until he started to climb up.

And dangerous as it was, given that he could be shaken loose again, he’s perfectly calm. Of course there was a hint of amusement at all of this, but he was level headed and meticulously thinking his actions through.
]
ideel: (85)

[personal profile] ideel 2024-04-27 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh look at that, he might actually have to make some sort of effort to get out of this one. That leaves him with two choices, magic, or his true form, but considering one will tear his pants to shreds... magic it is.

But that brought forth another question, what kind? Fire in such an enclosed space was ill-advised, not to mention he did not want to harm Frieda, same would go for lightning spells. Ice could perhaps work though would require precision, flora magic...

Yes that would do.

So at tendrils reached and latched onto him, so too did vines start to grow forth from the masses and walls until the space was a cobweb of vine and flesh. Just in time for him to be shaken loose, only to land safely amidst the tangle, and got himself comfortable just to rub it in that the efforts to kill him were, once again, in vain.
]

My, my, I'm surprised I actually had to use a spell. Maybe I should actually put an effort in?

(no subject)

[personal profile] ideel - 2024-05-01 07:01 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] ideel - 2024-05-01 09:01 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] ideel - 2024-05-01 22:44 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] ideel - 2024-05-02 07:21 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] ideel - 2024-05-03 02:24 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] ideel - 2024-05-03 07:38 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] ideel - 2024-05-04 14:09 (UTC) - Expand