As usual, I don't believe you. I don't expect you to change your tone based on that alone, of course.
Like you accept the type of person I am, I'll have to come to accept the type of person you are too. It does make it more enjoyable when the shell cracks.
Is a reminder of how Eren grates on his nerves so easily. A volatile, aggressive boy who was less so in his later days was far easier to navigate than this smug shit.]
There's nothing to crack - there never has been. If that's your idea of entertainment, you've failed at it. However, I'm pleased to know you've finally accepted me as I am. What a gift you've given me after so many months.
As if any of the shit out of his mouth is true. As if he believes a single goddamn word. As if his mind isn't as broken and distorted as those under Loki's thrall.
Eren doesn't have a goddamn clue. Akechi doesn't look away, even as his arms cross over his chest, body still submerged.
That look-
Reminds him of a false reality in a shared bed. The same one shared by half of Somnius. A farm left without a ruler. A boy who should've stayed in his reality to die alone, instead of coming back like nothing happened.
A front yard left barren when he vanished. Meeting places with only shadows to fill the seats. Sunlight on a cliff hitting nothing.
Nothing, and Akechi doesn't care. He left, and came back. He doesn't care. Will never care because it's pointless in any reality.
But he has the audacity to say-]
Oh, I can't get rid of you?
[Barbed at the edges, a prince in its shadow.]
That was so funny I almost puked.
[He's not laughing. ❤️]
What a bold statement. The world pushed you out only weeks ago, or have you already forgotten that too?
No, I think it's quite simple to get rid of you. Your weakness is apparent. I'm sure you'll be pulled back into a grave before long.
[The desired result is achieved - Akechi is angry - but it doesn't appear to be for the reason Eren intended. Eren hasn't particularly gotten the impression that Akechi was all that bothered by his absence. He half-doubts that for a moment, watching him through thin pillars of steam.]
I'm not going anywhere. [Quiet, cautious. He watches him.]
It was necessary once. Now, it's time to finish things.
[Still. Held taut. Akechi's own gaze doesn't waver - he stares up at Eren's face with insults on the tip of his tongue. A prison holds them in. He lets the water cover his lips to keep the prince from disappearing completely and-
Lets out an exhale, slow and calm. The bathhouse is a haven. This conversation is pointless. Eren can say whatever the hell he wants because their partnership ends when reality crashes.
He pushes himself back up until the water settles against the middle of his torso.
The words of a dead man don't matter.]
Very well.
[He raises a hand above water, as if waving off the conversation. A flash of 'II' inked into a finger. It falls just as quick.]
Let's hope you don't find it necessary again. You, or this world. Those able to unleash their rebellion are few and far between. We can't afford to lose those willing to fight against this unjust world.
[Eren is quiet for a minute. He lets the topic die - doesn't particularly feel like talking about rebellion at the moment. He and Akechi don't talk about much else. Tonight, he would have preferred to keep sharing fun facts.
[He sinks down into the water until its covering his nose. He can hold his breath for a long time. He didn't come to this bathhouse often. The only memories here feel almost identical to this one.
[Hatred, rage - wrapped in enough truth to make everything worth it, though, really, just time spent close mattered enough. Eren craves it. He wants to eat Akechi alive. It's an ache.
[He eases up out of the water just enough to speak.]
Akechi expected them to fall into silence, as usual. Wait out their time together, slink back to their homes with the same resolve always shared.
Eren speaks, and Akechi exhales in a way that might be mistaken as an exasperated laugh.
Stays silent a little longer. Ignoring him, potentially. He's deciding on whether he wants to or not when his mouth opens, words fall out - easy as ever. Tension there, but waning.]
Boiling was once a form of torture. Often a person was placed headfirst into a large object full of hot water, or another liquid. Other times, they would have to sit in an ice cold bath until it heated up enough to kill them. Knowing what happens to the skin and body -
I imagine at this temperature, they became quite afraid of what was to come. It's quite sad.
cw: disgusting...cannibalism...horror shit, dead bodies, aot is a horror canon
Yeah...[He hangs on the word, reaching to recall something.
[Casual as ever:]
I've been in a situation like that before. In a titan's stomach. There were dead bodies, and...living people too, getting boiled alive like you said...
His stomach churns at the thought, body leaning in closer to Eren to listen because curiosity is a weakness he's yet to kill. A firsthand account of such a morbid scenario impossible to resist.]
If you were all being boiled alive, or I suppose digested is the better word - the agony you must have felt would have been unfathomable.
How did you manage to transform in such a scenario?
cw: really gross shit, more horrifying cannibalism shit, gore, dead bodies
It did hurt, but digested really isn't the right word. Titan's don't digest people when they eat them. They stay in that liquid for a while, then the titan coughs them up. Kind of like a cat with a hairball.
[Anyway.]
The transformation is unlocked by injury and intention. I'd lost an arm and a leg at the time too. I wasn't ready to die yet, so I must have put all of my intention into killing that titan.
Edited 2024-10-25 06:55 (UTC)
cw: cannibalism talk, gore, dead bodies, just don't read
[Akechi does react - disgust apparent in the way his features scrunch. An act, and not. Morbid curiosity overriding all else.
He's fascinated by this whole ordeal and doesn't have the sensitivity training required to shut his mouth about it.]
What's the point? If it's only to suffocate and kill, there are easier methods. Though that's assuming the flesh doesn't melt away in the liquid - perhaps it's still a way to gain energy. Maybe it's the act itself, or..
[Titans are rational. Think. Feel. They know, surely. There's a reason for it somewhere.]
And then to have a titan transforming inside another titan - I assume it was killed in the process.
cw: crimes against humanity, cannibalism, fictional racism FLATVIEW BEWARE!!!
[Killing for the sake of killing, torture for the sake of torture. He can see the necessity from a practical standpoint - Eren can be injured, but is seemingly impossible to kill by normal standards. It's a trait likely shared.
He finally sinks back into the water in thought - notes it.]
My, what a mess. Your reality was a test of fortitude.
[Tone noted. Ignored. Akechi wants to incite in any direction. See what pushes his buttons. Relearn someone he thought he knew and exploit it in the future. ]
A boy takes up a mantle against an unjust world - drowns it in rot, the way those around him were drowned in the guts of executioners.
There are plenty of people that feel that way. An entire movement.
[As for Eren himself, though...]
Both sides are the same. I came to realize that too. My actions weren't meant to be just. They were a means to an end. To say I stooped to their level...
[It tumbles out of his lips before he can stop it. The warmth of a bath, the knowledge of shared rot between them. It slips, for a second. For a minute.]
When left with no other option, no other path, with a world on your shoulders - what good does it do to be the bigger person?
[The water laps at his lips and cheeks, submerged and staying that way. Eyes fixated on water between them, on Eren's face reflected in it. Voice light despite the topic.]
It's a thought exercise of sorts - of course, no outcome was ideal. The world would have ended to another's hand if not yours.
[A pause - strands of wet hair pushed behind his ear.]
[Eren tries not to let what Akechi says get to him - not in the way that makes him angry, and not in the way that makes him feel...whatever it is when Akechi calls his actions a mercy.
[He doesn't flinch, but he feels like he has. He watches Akechi over the water. Sometimes it's impossible to tell whether or not he's being genuine. Eren wonders, though...]
[They don't deserve mercy - no one does. A world razed deserves it. It doesn't matter who starts it or whose arm raises to deal the killing blow. Everyone in society has a hand in ruining it. Everything that follows is deserved.]
I have no opinion on the matter, truly. It's beyond my scope and my opinion is irrelevant as an outsider. I'm only speaking in hypotheticals.
[A mercy. A burden, yes, but a mercy? He tries to imagine it being placed in someone else's hands - Mikasa, Armin, Jean...
[And he knows that weight. It hung around his neck until his head came off his shoulders. He's quiet for too long. He doesn't look cold; some pain bleeds in his eyes, staring ahead, away from Akechi, searching for something unseen.]
The people on Paradis Island were considered devils. Dangerous. Savage. Less than human.
Killing me made the Scout Regiment heroes. It should protect them for a long time.
[Is that the same thing as mercy?]
To say that I did it so they wouldn't have to, though...
[Another long pause. His brow pinches. He sinks deeper into the water.]
If they benefited, it doesn't matter if your intent was to help them. You did, in the end.
[The world itself is impossible for Akechi to grasp. The lives of all are meant to live in misery and what can be done for a reality where every single being is seen as an ant.
Akechi doesn't give a shit about ants.
Eren isn't an ant.]
Good intentions can't save the world. Bad intentions don't always doom it. If both actions end up helping - what does the origin matter?
[And that's all there is to it, really. A detective prince ready to raze the world. A god dooming it in a different way.]
But I think this discussion has given us enough to think about for one day.
[Eren's eyes are on Akechi - ever on Akechi. There's almost something to them. What he feels is that odd fondness that exists only for one person - this person.
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no subject
As usual, I don't believe you. I don't expect you to change your tone based on that alone, of course.
Like you accept the type of person I am, I'll have to come to accept the type of person you are too. It does make it more enjoyable when the shell cracks.
no subject
[This-
Is a reminder of how Eren grates on his nerves so easily. A volatile, aggressive boy who was less so in his later days was far easier to navigate than this smug shit.]
There's nothing to crack - there never has been. If that's your idea of entertainment, you've failed at it. However, I'm pleased to know you've finally accepted me as I am. What a gift you've given me after so many months.
no subject
[Eren's eyes fall; he looks Akechi up and down.]
At any rate, you should know you can't get rid of me by now. You'll lose the long game.
no subject
As if any of the shit out of his mouth is true. As if he believes a single goddamn word. As if his mind isn't as broken and distorted as those under Loki's thrall.
Eren doesn't have a goddamn clue. Akechi doesn't look away, even as his arms cross over his chest, body still submerged.
That look-
Reminds him of a false reality in a shared bed. The same one shared by half of Somnius. A farm left without a ruler. A boy who should've stayed in his reality to die alone, instead of coming back like nothing happened.
A front yard left barren when he vanished. Meeting places with only shadows to fill the seats. Sunlight on a cliff hitting nothing.
Nothing, and Akechi doesn't care. He left, and came back. He doesn't care. Will never care because it's pointless in any reality.
But he has the audacity to say-]
Oh, I can't get rid of you?
[Barbed at the edges, a prince in its shadow.]
That was so funny I almost puked.
[He's not laughing. ❤️]
What a bold statement. The world pushed you out only weeks ago, or have you already forgotten that too?
No, I think it's quite simple to get rid of you. Your weakness is apparent. I'm sure you'll be pulled back into a grave before long.
no subject
I'm not going anywhere. [Quiet, cautious. He watches him.]
It was necessary once. Now, it's time to finish things.
no subject
Lets out an exhale, slow and calm. The bathhouse is a haven. This conversation is pointless. Eren can say whatever the hell he wants because their partnership ends when reality crashes.
He pushes himself back up until the water settles against the middle of his torso.
The words of a dead man don't matter.]
Very well.
[He raises a hand above water, as if waving off the conversation. A flash of 'II' inked into a finger. It falls just as quick.]
Let's hope you don't find it necessary again. You, or this world. Those able to unleash their rebellion are few and far between. We can't afford to lose those willing to fight against this unjust world.
no subject
[He sinks down into the water until its covering his nose. He can hold his breath for a long time. He didn't come to this bathhouse often. The only memories here feel almost identical to this one.
[Hatred, rage - wrapped in enough truth to make everything worth it, though, really, just time spent close mattered enough. Eren craves it. He wants to eat Akechi alive. It's an ache.
[He eases up out of the water just enough to speak.]
Tell me something else interesting.
CW: boiling torture & mmm skin again
That.
Akechi expected them to fall into silence, as usual. Wait out their time together, slink back to their homes with the same resolve always shared.
Eren speaks, and Akechi exhales in a way that might be mistaken as an exasperated laugh.
Stays silent a little longer. Ignoring him, potentially. He's deciding on whether he wants to or not when his mouth opens, words fall out - easy as ever. Tension there, but waning.]
Boiling was once a form of torture. Often a person was placed headfirst into a large object full of hot water, or another liquid. Other times, they would have to sit in an ice cold bath until it heated up enough to kill them. Knowing what happens to the skin and body -
I imagine at this temperature, they became quite afraid of what was to come. It's quite sad.
cw: disgusting...cannibalism...horror shit, dead bodies, aot is a horror canon
[Casual as ever:]
I've been in a situation like that before. In a titan's stomach. There were dead bodies, and...living people too, getting boiled alive like you said...
[Anyway.]
That was the first time I transformed, actually.
cw: cont - cannibalism talk, dead bodies, boiling
His stomach churns at the thought, body leaning in closer to Eren to listen because curiosity is a weakness he's yet to kill. A firsthand account of such a morbid scenario impossible to resist.]
If you were all being boiled alive, or I suppose digested is the better word - the agony you must have felt would have been unfathomable.
How did you manage to transform in such a scenario?
cw: really gross shit, more horrifying cannibalism shit, gore, dead bodies
[He pauses a moment to scratch idly at his ear.]
It did hurt, but digested really isn't the right word. Titan's don't digest people when they eat them. They stay in that liquid for a while, then the titan coughs them up. Kind of like a cat with a hairball.
[Anyway.]
The transformation is unlocked by injury and intention. I'd lost an arm and a leg at the time too. I wasn't ready to die yet, so I must have put all of my intention into killing that titan.
cw: cannibalism talk, gore, dead bodies, just don't read
He's fascinated by this whole ordeal and doesn't have the sensitivity training required to shut his mouth about it.]
What's the point? If it's only to suffocate and kill, there are easier methods. Though that's assuming the flesh doesn't melt away in the liquid - perhaps it's still a way to gain energy. Maybe it's the act itself, or..
[Titans are rational. Think. Feel. They know, surely. There's a reason for it somewhere.]
And then to have a titan transforming inside another titan - I assume it was killed in the process.
cw: crimes against humanity, cannibalism, fictional racism FLATVIEW BEWARE!!!
You've got it wrong, though...
[Some darkness starts to settle into his expression, though his tone remains dry, casual.]
Titans don't gain energy from eating humans. The closest guess we had was sunlight.
They aren't animals trying to survive so they can continue their species.
They're Eldians, transformed into monsters, sent to eat and kill other Eldians. That's the point.
cw: crimes against humanity, cannibalism, torture, death talk
He finally sinks back into the water in thought - notes it.]
My, what a mess. Your reality was a test of fortitude.
[It deserved to sink under a sea of red.]
Drowning the world seems almost poetic now.
no subject
You think so?
no subject
[Tone noted. Ignored. Akechi wants to incite in any direction. See what pushes his buttons. Relearn someone he thought he knew and exploit it in the future. ]
A boy takes up a mantle against an unjust world - drowns it in rot, the way those around him were drowned in the guts of executioners.
no subject
[As for Eren himself, though...]
Both sides are the same. I came to realize that too. My actions weren't meant to be just. They were a means to an end. To say I stooped to their level...
You'd be right about that.
no subject
[It tumbles out of his lips before he can stop it. The warmth of a bath, the knowledge of shared rot between them. It slips, for a second. For a minute.]
When left with no other option, no other path, with a world on your shoulders - what good does it do to be the bigger person?
[The water laps at his lips and cheeks, submerged and staying that way. Eyes fixated on water between them, on Eren's face reflected in it. Voice light despite the topic.]
It's a thought exercise of sorts - of course, no outcome was ideal. The world would have ended to another's hand if not yours.
[A pause - strands of wet hair pushed behind his ear.]
It's almost a mercy for you to take burden.
no subject
[He doesn't flinch, but he feels like he has. He watches Akechi over the water. Sometimes it's impossible to tell whether or not he's being genuine. Eren wonders, though...]
Is that really how you feel?
no subject
I have no opinion on the matter, truly. It's beyond my scope and my opinion is irrelevant as an outsider. I'm only speaking in hypotheticals.
no subject
[And he knows that weight. It hung around his neck until his head came off his shoulders. He's quiet for too long. He doesn't look cold; some pain bleeds in his eyes, staring ahead, away from Akechi, searching for something unseen.]
The people on Paradis Island were considered devils. Dangerous. Savage. Less than human.
Killing me made the Scout Regiment heroes. It should protect them for a long time.
[Is that the same thing as mercy?]
To say that I did it so they wouldn't have to, though...
[Another long pause. His brow pinches. He sinks deeper into the water.]
I don't know.
no subject
[The world itself is impossible for Akechi to grasp. The lives of all are meant to live in misery and what can be done for a reality where every single being is seen as an ant.
Akechi doesn't give a shit about ants.
Eren isn't an ant.]
Good intentions can't save the world. Bad intentions don't always doom it. If both actions end up helping - what does the origin matter?
[And that's all there is to it, really. A detective prince ready to raze the world. A god dooming it in a different way.]
But I think this discussion has given us enough to think about for one day.
however we can still wrap if you'd like hehe
[Eren's eyes are on Akechi - ever on Akechi. There's almost something to them. What he feels is that odd fondness that exists only for one person - this person.
[Grief, rage, even hatred, but still...]
I'm not ready to leave you yet.
<3 wrappin but they still hanging <3
Akechi feels a gaze on him again and-
Watches him from the reflection in the water, raises his head to match and-]
Neither am I.
[Not for a long time.]
Maruki-san made a meal yesterday I think you would enjoy - there are leftovers if you come over tomorrow.
[And for the remainder of the their time in the bath, he speaks - sparse and lighthearted. Topics easy to navigate and answer.
Stays there, until they're both ready to go home.]