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[neighsaying]

INBOX (UN: OMNIDIRECTIONAL) text / audio / video / action This is Jean. Leave a message, and I'll reach back out when I'm available. [ Previously was thunderspear ] code credit

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[neighsaying]

[ Eren's biting into the meat of his arm, which gets a hiss out of Jean.

Literally proposed to, now literally wrestling on the couch. ]

Me? Look who's talking. I'm going to buy you a muzzle next time I think I should be nice to you.

[wintolive]

You started it. [Chomp chomp.

[He starts snickering against Jean's arm.

[He's happy. He's actually happy.]

[neighsaying]

Agh!

[ He's trying to pull his arm away - that actually hurts and he doesn't have super special Titan healing, Eren - but there's a curl to his lips as he does it. This is a lot like how he remembers Eren at this age.

It's nice, to mess around, let him be a kid again. ]

we can wrap if you'd like

[wintolive]

[At last, he relents, shifting to nuzzle his nose affectionately against Jean's neck instead. Skinny arms find their way around him at whatever angle he can reach.

[Jean said he loved him once. When did Eren start falling in love with him too? He'll stay this way as long as Jean will let him.]

slides one last tag in before doing so

[neighsaying]

[ When Eren stops biting him and instead wraps his arms around his neck and nuzzles close, Jean blows out a huff of air but wraps his own arms around Eren's middle.

The truth is he's loved him for a while, even when he didn't realize it. He'll love Eren no matter what era he's in. He squeezes him a little more fiercely and closes his eyes to enjoy the embrace. ]

text; un: armored

[nohero]

[ Apropos of nothing: ]

By the way, your username on this thing sucks.

[ "Thunderspear"? Really? He hates it, thanks! ]

[neighsaying]

[ He thought he was so clever! ]

Yours isn't much better!

[nohero]

[ oh hell naw ]

How do you figure that? Mine is a title. It's what I am.

Yours is a weapon created to kill me.

[neighsaying]

'What you are' is also a weapon that was used against us, if you want to take that route.

[ But, because Jean is genuinely not trying to rock the boat: ]

But fine, I'll change mine. Any suggestions?

[ He saddled Mikasa with 'ravenlocks'. ]

[nohero]

I know that.

[ He was the weapon in question. Of course he knows. ]

Not really. I just don't like seeing this one. [ Then, because he feels childish leaving it at that: ] I'm happy when I get messages from you, then I cringe at your name. It sucks.

un: omnidirectional

[neighsaying]

[ He wants to snap back, you weren't here when I picked it, or, then how does reinersucks sound, but the guilt he feels when Reiner brings up cringing at his name kills that before he can even dream of sending them. ]

I said I'd change it.

[ Can't help being petty! A moment later Reiner gets a message from a different username. ]

Happy?

[nohero]

Yeah. Thank you, Jean.

[ Then, fair being fair: ]

Do you want me to change mine?

[neighsaying]

[ He's not getting a 'you're welcome' but, after a moment: ]

It doesn't really bother me. I spent so long in that last battle using you as a launch pad, after all.

If it bothers Eren, he hasn't mentioned it.

[nohero]

I can't call that last battle "fun." But you launching off of me like that could be fun under different circumstances. We made a good team.

I don't message Eren unless he contacts me first. If he didn't like it, I would've heard about it by now. He doesn't hold back.

[neighsaying]

It wasn't fun, but I felt safer whenever I was with you. So like I said, not really bothered. And we've always been a good team.

[ There's a reason Shadis didn't usually pair them up for practices. ]

He really doesn't. I feel like he's always ten seconds from running off to demand Vaeros fistfight him.

[nohero]

[ Jean felt safer with him…?

It makes sense, but Reiner still has to take a moment to absorb it. To let himself smile (small as it may be), happy that he made his friend feel safer. ]

If Eren wouldn't start yelling about it restricting his freedom, I'd suggest a leash. (Joking.)

[ (Half joking.) ]

I can't understand why he objects to this world so vehemently. It's fine. It's better than where we came from.

[neighsaying]

I thought about it.

[ Not remotely joking. ]

The worst part is he doesn't dislike the place, he just dislikes Vaeros keeping people here and making us ask for things. I can kind of understand that, but I'm trying to knock it into his thick head that sometimes you have to play by the rules instead of breaking them.

He seems to be getting it, a little. But I know he's still sneaking around talking shit about it.

[nohero]

Yeah. He is.

[ Jean gets two guesses why Reiner knows that Eren is talking shit. ]

There's always going to be someone higher up the ladder. In the Walls, it was your king. At home, it's your mom. In the military, it's your commanding officer. You don't get to choose any of those.

Eren isn't a brand new trainee. This concept is familiar to him. I don't get what makes Vaeros different. Is it just because this isn't our world?

[neighsaying]

[ Jean sees where Eren is coming from, though. He also understands what Reiner means, and it truly comes down to choice - or at least, the illusion of it. ]

Right now, to him, freedom is in choosing what he wants to do, and knowing the truth.

He doesn't know why Vaeros brought us here. He doesn't remember choosing to come here, either, if he did. None of us really do, though some remember more than others.

He wants the illusion of choice. When you turned twelve in Paradis, your options were the military, the fields, or getting an apprenticeship. Except most of us weren't going to get that apprenticeship, so you really had two options. You still got to choose, even if it wasn't really a choice.

Sure, you can rebel against your mother - I did all the time. But questioning your superior isn't the same situation. He can and will throw you out on your ass where your mom won't.

[nohero]

Does Eren think fist fighting Vaeros won't get him thrown on his ass? Or does he think Vaeros has the same patience for bullshit as a mother?

[ How many Eldians were sent to "heaven" for less? ]

Eren NEEDS to stay here. Why the hell is he rocking the boat?

[neighsaying]

In truth I'm not sure Vaeros cares. He brought us here, he maintains the labyrinth, he was powerful enough to make us stop fighting at that masquerade. What's one or two guys trying to kill him?

He took your Titan away. He took Eren's titan away, too. Even if he gets those powers back, Vaeros could remove them just as quickly.

Less the patience of a mother, but more that we're just insects to him. Even if we've been invited here, he's watching us through the glass of the enclosure.

[nohero]

Don't try to tell me you've never swatted an irritating fly, Jean.

[neighsaying]

That's why I'm trying to keep him from being a nuisance, you know. I don't tend to kill flies that are minding their own business.

[nohero]

[ There's a pause. Then: ]

Maybe that leash is a good idea.

[ Less joking now. ]

I'm worried about him. I don't want him to do something stupid and compromise what he has here. I can't express that without pissing him off. I'm staying out of his way, but he keeps seeking me out.

I don't remember him acting this rebellious. He'd pick dumb fights with you, but he'd always get back in line. Is this something that happened after I left?

[neighsaying]

You're telling me.

[ That's interesting, that Eren keeps seeking Reiner out. It makes sense, in a way; Eren always idolized Reiner. He had taken Annie and then Reiner's betrayals the hardest for that matter; he'd cared that Bertholdt had lied too, but it was different. ]

He's never seen you transform, here. He never had the fight we had at Wall Rose where you kidnapped him. He went straight from trusting you to having to believe you were the enemy. That was before he got the truth dumped on him, too. He's probably struggling with it...

[ The knowledge of Reiner is one that Jean gave to him, so he can't even get mad at Erwin for that one. ]

He's from when everyone called him Humanity's Only Hope. Maybe it went to his head and it hasn't had a chance to get knocked out. But he promised me and Mikasa he'd be 'better' than his future self, here.