WITH YOU ⦁ open.

[venatik]

Who: venatik + you.
What: Orienting himself to the area ... as much as he can, anyway.
When: September 4th through the 7th.
Where: Prompts have particular locations.


Content Warnings: Reflecting on death and loss of a friend.

001 ⦁ the pale sanctuary.

( Patrolling feels terribly like something that the Military Police would get up to instead of something his own branch used to do; still, Levi recognizes it needs to be done.

He finds himself standing a respectable distance away from the blood-bloated tree, feeling just a little disgust.

He's going to have to get a handle on the clean-freak thing, isn't he?

With some interest, he watches someone disappear among the roots, down the stairs he didn't take note of before. ... Huh.

It's gonna take him a minute to get down the stairs; he thinks of Hange, who would bodily push him towards the tree with all the excitement in the world in their voice. He feels a pang, terrible and loud in its volume and weight.

He takes a step forward, then stops ... Someone watching might find it peculiar, the slow way he continues on towards the tree. )

002 ⦁ earworm.

( The music outside of Earworm is bumping, but at the perfect volume; the music is unlike anything he's heard before. He'd very nearly get lost in the sounds if it weren't for the job at hand.

Tonight he's a bouncer. He keeps a watchful eye from the door, looking over the hopefuls waiting to get in and the ones already inside. He's twirling a knife as he does so; how welcoming and friendly! )

003 ⦁ glover lover.

I need something replicated and the same thing repaired a bit. I don't want these to snap on me at the worst time, and they're a little ... worn.

( He's looking as though this is quite the undertaking, placing on the counter in front of the shop attendant a series of straps meant to criss-cross over the body. Indeed, in some places the thick leather is beginning to fray from use. He pushes the straps forward. )

I'll also need gloves. ... And a jabot.

( Totally a normal request, that last one, and he says it so seriously.

He notes someone nearby and inclines his head in a nod by way of acknowledgement. )

Comments

Glover Lover

[onerthes]

[The woman in the shop with him was looking over a set of satin gloves, dark fabric to match the dark hued ao dai she was currently wearing. She still found that if she was going to expose very little skin, the outfits were rather perfect. And, in some parts of town there seemed to be a preference for more ... muted colors.

Still, she liked a splash of color and these red ones were nice. Noticing that someone had nodded to her, she turned and smiled over at Levi. "Ah... you'll forgive me, but you're one of the sleepers aren't you?" she said. she hadn't ever met him before, in the dream, but ... they tended to stand out a little compared to the locals. In her case, it was the eye. Always the eye.

[venatik]

( Sleepers is still a weird term to him, but he doesn't make mention of that. )

Yeah. I guess that's what they're calling us who crawled out of the big puddle.

( He does look at the third eye for a moment, but turns his gaze back on the attendant, who's shuffling off to find gloves.

He hasn't really talked to any other Sleepers in person yet. He notes, about the gloves in her hands: )

Satin might ... tear easily. If you're a Hunter, anyway.

[onerthes]

[For anyone just arriving it might feel very odd. For those waking from the nightmare like her, it felt a little on the nose.]

It's because of the nightmare that made this world the way it is. For those of us in it, we were the sleepers who have awoken from the dream.

[A bit of a cryptic way to put it, but accurate all the same. She smiled down at the gloves and nodded, holding them there for a moment before winking at him.]

It might, might it not? But I am not a hunter... even though leathers will be good to have in addition.

[venatik]

Ah ... Gotta say, I have no idea what the nightmare was really like, but ... From what I'm seeing it was fucking terrible.

( Hence "nightmare," he supposes. )

Seems like the market for Hunters is a bit saturated. If we're going by all the posting on the Omni.

[onerthes]

It was not all bad... but it was generally pretty awful, yes. Nightmare, after all, so what can you expect?

[She laughed softly as she looked over one of the sets of leather gloves while the two of them were talking. There wasn't any hurry.]

You might think that, but no. If this is even remotely like what we experienced before, even those not of the hunters would do well to know how to defend themselves, and we'll need quite a few. I just...

Have been fighting for a very long time.

[venatik]

Right.

( He looks towards the floor, feeling a strange sort of pang in his chest. )

I know what that's like, at least, even if I didn't come from the same place. I suppose it was similar where I come from. That could be called a nightmare too.

[onerthes]

One reality that I have come to embrace is that, for all that things we see here may be nightmarish, painful and dangerous? There are some for whom this world may be a very real improvement.

Julia's nightmares were terrifying at points... but there are some of us who were simply too jaded to feel it in the same way. [She sighed.] We don't quite know yet how hard it will be here. But I will say that, with the exception of a few specific periods?

Survival in the nightmare was always possible. So, if your world is a nightmare? This may not be as bad.

[venatik]

You have a ... point.

( Another pang. Even if the last place, home, was a nightmare,this is home now. This is the nightmare he's come to, and he has to live with that.

Something in his blood tells him so, anyway. )

Remains to be seen, I guess. ... I'm Levi. Former Lance Corporal of some military branch I don't have to worry about anymore.

[onerthes]

[That same sense of 'belonging' in this world was a thing that she shared. She was perhaps a bit more comfortable with the idea, but she'd embraced that it might be needed for her, before even arriving. It helped, if only a little.]

Hah. As one old soldier to another, being free of those bonds is itself soemthing of a freedom. You have the skills to defend yourself, but that chain of command isn't here.

Vira-Lorr, former General of the combined armies of a Free Agarest in a war that is now very much over. [She didn't even bother to add the bit about F.E.A.R.] I relish the idea that those titles no longer matter as much for me.

[venatik]

Being without titles might be freeing in some sense, but in another, well ... I didn't mind it.

( Sometimes he wishes he could shut the fuck up. )

It's good to meet you, in either case.

[onerthes]

Likewise, it's good to meet you as well. [She nodded over at him.] So, since we're here, getting a feel for all these lovely gloves what sort are you thinking of getting? Something sturdy in case there's a fight?

I think the gloves do seem to make a statement of sorts in this town.

[venatik]

Definitely sturdy. But something I can move with, since my gear requires quick reflexes with one's fingers.

( He glances around the shop once more. )

Some of these are a bit flashy, but ... Leather, I think.

[onerthes]

Leather does sound like the right choice. The issue isn't the leather itself, it's the stitching. You need a tighter fitting leather, so that there aren't bunches in the joints to make sure that you keep those reflexes.

I have a feeling they have those here. I don't need them to be quite so precise. A rapier leaves some breathing room as long as you have good wrist freedom.

[venatik]

( He blinks, then nods. Good point. )

I don't even know what a rapier is. Some kind of blade?

( Oh, life behind the walls. He paws through a small selection of gloves, looking for something that's as described. )

[onerthes]

[She patted the light blade at her side. It was a combination of blunderbuss with a rapier that managed to still work well enough as both.]

This isn't a traditional one. They're light blades, meant for puncturing rather than slashing. Weapons meant for dueling, they tend to be very good in the hands of those who prefer precision and agility in fighting, rather than power or force.

[venatik]

Dueling. Right. There wasn't a lot of that where I come from.

( He shrugs. )

The people in the underground had tiny knives at best, and everyone else was armed with the plug-in blades and up against Titans.

( He changes track a bit: )

You're probably good with it then, I trust. I feel so ... rusty here already.

[onerthes]

I wouldn't say it was common in my world? But it was not unusual for those who focused on the use of magic through a blade. However, that sounds... very... very unmatched. If Titans are huge as I would imagine you would want better weapons.

Am I good with a light blade? Yes. I've spent most of my adult life with it. I've been trying to master firearms as well. Range is good at times.

[venatik]

Ah. There's the rub. We had a fuck of a time even developing what we had. My place wasn't as ... technologically advanced as the world around us.

( A shake of the head. )

Yeah, I'd like to practice with firearms as well. Wasn't the best with them, mostly stuck to the shit I knew.

[onerthes]

Oh, you're going to fit in well around here with that in mind. Resourcefulness is a real asset.

[She reached down and gestured to her rapier, pulling it free. Nobody seemed too confused. She gestured to the handle, where he could see that there was a blunderbuss attached, and the blade seemed to be hooked in such a way that it could be moved to a bayonet position.]

Weapons in this town are usually built to be more than one thing, fashioned by whatever we have handy. If you're good at scrounging treasures out of the parts, they'll love you.

You should see the sword canes.