[Open] What do you mean, it's the 21st century?

[everylastone]

Characters: Eren Jaeger and OPEN
Location: A nameless street in the city, Shibusen and the training area
Rating: PG-13
Time: June 9th
Description: After finally being permitted out of the hospital’s quarantine Eren has nothing better to do than


a) Run in front of a car

b) Look like a suicidal idiot on a wall

c) Stare at everybody who’s not Caucasian white or has a non-standard hair-color during training time.

d) Do all of the above with predictable consequences.


((OOC: Hi, I'm trying a little different setup this time~ This is an open log with multiple scenarios set up in its comments. As always, comment wherever you want in whatever style you prefer and I'll go along with it!))

Comments

[everylastone]

"It's not really that important. They were both destroyed five years ago." Which wasn't entirely the truth but close enough to it to justify cutting any other questions about it short.

He stepped to the side when she came closer, letting her have a good view of the vast desert landscape outside the city as well. From time to time he tried to sneak glances at her face.

[morecowbell]

"Oh, I see," well there was a sob story she probably did not want to hear. Nanami was done accidentally bringing up sore subjects especially people's pasts. She stayed quiet for a moment looking over the landscape while conveniently ignoring the creepy sun who must have seen something funny because it had started chuckling.

The blond soon became aware of his glances and she turned her head and looked directly at him with a half smirk on her face. "Well, Mr. Eren from Shiganshina formerly at the southern edge of Wall Maria. I'm Nanami. I've been here for a while so you can consider me an upperclassman and ask me questions if you wish." She was so nice and it probably had nothing to do with her being bored at all.

[everylastone]

Eren blinked as he failed to look away. He had a thing of meeting people's eyes without any fake shy that did its fair share of getting him into fights.

"Nanami," he nodded faintly. He had no clue what being an upperclassman meant in the context of this place, so he decided to ask. "It's nice meeting you as well. Do you mean to say that you're more experienced since you have been here longer" sort of like veterans of a position might push on rookies that had just arrived fresh from the trainee camp "or that you are actually a lot older than you look?" The second part came out a bit awkward, hinting that he had enough sense to know that he was threading thin ice with asking a girl that.

[morecowbell]

"What I meant was that I have been in Death City for some time now. I arrived in March," he didn't need to know that it was quite the opposite of what he said and she was often mistaken for being a year or two older than she actually was. Nanami, being relatively young, was not bothered by the question but if he were to ask her her age she would not oblige him with an answer.

"I know the city fairly well so if you're looking for a particular shop to purchase coffee, clothing, instruments or what have you I can point you in the proper direction. If you'd like to move out of Casualty Communal, I can tell you the what the other apartments in the city available to guests look like."

[everylastone]

He nodded as if those things were telling him something. So she was a veteran, then. "Thanks for the offer. You're very kind." His sentences still sounded somewhat stiff, as if he weren't used to making small talk of that kind. (He wasn't and rarely bothered.)

Thinking for a moment, he finally asked. "Is there any place where I can buy books or weapons? Those are the most important things in my opinion right now." Books meant information, you didn't need to be Armin to know that (although Eren still wished that his best friend were here because he had a far better eye for what was important and what needed to be done first than Eren ever did.) The latter was obvious why he cared about it.

[morecowbell]

"If you're looking for informational books, you'll want to hit the Shibusen Library. That's in that building," she pointed at the Academy, "they allow you to check some out or you can just nestle down at a table inside. There's a couple bookstores in town where you can purchase books like Murder Ink and The Tattered Cover." Conversely, Nanami was relaxed and perfectly within her comfort zone as she freely gave Eren the information he sought.

"As for weapons, it depends on what you're looking for. Are you looking for a Weapon partner or just a normal run of the mill weapon?"

[everylastone]

He followed the directions she was giving him with his eyes and made the appropriate noises at the right time. Lots of places to get books atm, it seemed.. He wondered if the information disclosed to the public was any good before the question about what kind of weapon he wants makes him blink.

"I'm not planning on marrying, so a normal weapon will be plenty." He had almost said that he wanted a 3D maneuver gear as if it were the most natural thing of the world.

[morecowbell]

Nanami nearly choked when he somehow related getting a human Weapon to marrying one. "That not..! No, no... that's not what I meant by "partner". Did you miss the orientation?" She thought she was the only one who didn't pay attention to it because she thought she had be abducted by aliens and was too busy freaking out to hear the important stuff.

[everylastone]

"Eh? But a weapon-partner is like a partner for life, right? I don't want something like that." Because people had the bad habit of dying around him and because the ghosts of Franz and Hanna still kept haunting his idea of romantic relationships on the battlefield. He hadn't seen them since the beginning of the battle of Trost, but Eren had asked about the fates of the rest of the 104th trainee squad's members afterward when he had gotten the chance and hearing that half of the couple died had been quite a shock. It had hit him like a fist in the guts just as like the news of Marco's death had, just for different reasons. He had not really been 'that' close with them (Eren was rarely ever 'that' close with anyone except Armin and Mikasa), but he did remember their embarrassed reaction to his complaints about them acting like a married couple only hours before death and the titans had severed their paths for good.

No, no matter what anybody said, he didn't want to be that close to anybody as long as they were still regularly heading out onto a battlefield.

[morecowbell]

"Oh, um, I guess I can see where you got that," she cleared her throat and the small bit of red in her cheeks started fading as she collected herself. "I mean, they can be and Shibusen highly recommends getting a permanent partner but there's a lot of people who would agree with you, myself included. If you're going to fight Kishin Eggs, you have to have a partner because normal weapons can't kill them, but if you're just looking to keep something under your pillow to help you sleep at night, you'll have to acquire a weapon outside of the city."

[everylastone]

Eren considered those options for a moment with a frown. He didn't want to get stuck with another person, but he also hated the idea of being powerless in the face of any foe. Running around in this situation without any kind of proper weapon that he could take anywhere he wanted didn't seem desirable, either.

"... What if I'd want both?"

[morecowbell]

"Then go get both," she stated plainly. "Morning training has an area where you can look try resonating with various people. Do you know your Meister ability yet?" Nanami was unaware that Eren was actually a Weapon.

[everylastone]

Eren shook his head for the umpteenth time that day. "I was in no condition to try for anything like that. Though... Maybe it's flying?" That would be neat if he hadn't known that his soul was classified as a weapon already.

[morecowbell]

"Flying, huh? That would certainly be a convenient ability." She breathed in deeply and looked back out over the city as if imagining it. "What makes you think that might be your ability?" It seemed a bit specific, maybe he was a pilot or something back home.

[everylastone]

"It has to do with what I used to do back where I come from." He confirmed, still not feeling comfortable with disclosing any more info on potentially sensitive subjects than necessary. "I moved a lot through the air, and earned my own pair of the wings of freedom." Overly poetic, but it'd tell anybody who knew about this things that he was a member of the scouting legion without giving himself away.

[morecowbell]

"Fair enough." The blond didn't bother trying to glean any more personal information from him. Most of the people she met ended up spilling out their entire life story to her eventually whether she wanted to hear it or not. She wondered why that was exactly.

"As for non-people weapons, since you can conveniently travel by mirror, the easiest way is to accept a mission near the place that is best known for that type of weapon. Like if you want a good katana go to Japan or if you want a fencing sword go to France or Spain." Nanami was most familiar with swords clearly.

[everylastone]

Maybe because they had nothing else to share between them? That was what Eren would have guessed at last, being somewhat familiar with the phenomenon thanks to spending some years with people who had been total strangers with only a marginally united interest at first. You shared stories and dreams because you had nothing else to share and hoped that there was somebody around who would relate to them.

And there it was again, that idea of moving around by walking through a mirror... "So... Where would I have to go if I want something better than just swords? And what about the money, I'd have to pay for myself, right?"

[morecowbell]

Surprisingly enough, Nanami had really only given vague descriptions of her school to a couple of people and mentioned her brother in passing so far. Bakura hearing her secrets while he was supposed to be in a coma didn't count as far as she was concerned and she didn't remember going into detail about the more interesting aspects of being on the student council.

"Something better? Just swords?" The blond looked like she took personal offense to that statement and it took her a moment to calm down. "Ahem," she cleared her throat, "well, it depends on what you want although I'm not really a weapons expert so I may not be able to answer your question. As for money you can seek a job in the city as well as go on missions as requested by Shibusen."

[everylastone]

Eren grimaced at the suggestion. Staying long enough to actually take on a job - one that wasn't about slaying titans, no less! - was simply out of question for him. And he didn't feel like obediently working for somebody who had taken him from his comrades and refused to let him return either.

"Yeah, where I come from using just swords is a bit", he trailed off, rubbing his thumb unconsciously over the place on his hand where he'd bite to activate his powers, "less. I don't want to kill humans, after all."

[morecowbell]

Poor guy, he'd have to live with it eventually like the rest of them did. It was fairly easy for her to adapt to life here with a few exceptions.

Nanami frowned at him, "well then, what is it exactly that you're looking for?" She wasn't very observant and completely missed his tell.

[everylastone]

"I guess you don't have some kind of combined weapons? Swords and knives are just for other humans and I never got warm with the idea of fire arms." He pulled a face. "Those are good for hunting or if you cowardly want to attack another human from behind, but I need something with more variation and power."

[morecowbell]

"In that case, why bother with a weapon at all? Generally you aren't fighting humans here anyway. Generally..." she repeated making a face remembering people trying to burn down her apartment complex while she was holed up inside with injuries and that time Zagi tried to kill her for no apparent reason. "Or find something blunt but not too thick like a bo staff. I'm not sure what you mean by combined weapon, I'm pretty sure the knifewrench isn't an actual thing."

[everylastone]

"Knifewrench? What's that?" He sounded hopeful. Going without any weapon was out of question, of course.

[morecowbell]

"It... it would be a wrench on one side with a knife on the other-- but that's really beside the point, I don't think it actually exists." Well she never thought he'd actually ask about it. She sighed a little because he was being rather difficult, "look what kind of weapons are you familiar with?"

[everylastone]

Eren actually considered such a construct for a moment before he dismissed the idea with a shrug and a serious face. "I don't know if it does or not, but it doesn't sound as if it were very practical at all. Either the knife or the wrench would get in the way all the time."

Then he frowned for a moment because he still didn't know if it was wise to reveal what kind of war technology they used back home. Probably not. "I'm trained in all sorts of weapons, like knives, hand to hand combat, archery, swords, sticks..." you could hear which of those lessons had actually interested him, "... but mostly I'm good at using the 3D maneuver gear."