VIDEO

[usurpers]

Name: eren jaeger
Date: juril 13th
Format: video

[ Around a fire in the dark of night, a few tents and the movement of witches, entertainment and the like of volunteers behind them, Eren sits outside of the city wall with company as the feed starts, Lex sitting next to him with Dogmeat sprawled out a few inches away. ]

Anyone with any intention of walking closer to Wilder’s Edge, don’t go alone and don’t go unprepared to fight.

We ran into something. Humanoid, with a creepy laugh. It mimicked our faces, our movements, and it was not playing around.

[ The flex of her talons, the little grit of her monster-sharp teeth, probably makes it clear exactly what Lex thinks about that. Shoulder to shoulder, Eren’s head dips, sideways to rest his cheek to the top of her head— spontaneous as the dragon sinks half his face into her curly, furry, feathery hair. There’s no resistance; if anything, the chimera leans into it. ]

Fighting that thing alone wouldn’t go well. It wasn’t infected, as far as we could tell. The Cwyld isn’t the only danger here.

[ Eren confirms with a nod that comes with wetting his lips, only turning his face to direct himself to the camera again else he’d muffle his words. His own ink-dipped hands and claws hold somewhere around her back, under her opposite arm and stretching out the wide tears at the back of his ruined, bloodied shirt and closed nape wound that had been healed by magic hands. he points to his neck. ]

It looked predatory. And it probably won’t back off unless you take it down, or trap it first. The veterans don’t know what to tell us.

[ Eren also doesn’t spend too much time with video feeds, and presses. buttons, like a grandpa. He presses all the damn buttons (that probably fuck up configurations plenty, he mutters fucking because technology is hard), until a photo is tagged to the post. A lot of photos, most of them blurry messes until one actually shows a body, of the mimic in question. A black sleek face, no features to show for except for a broken mask, long limbs, and teeth like needles behind the fissures. Its neck bares a shredded hole and its middle is spilled.

Dryly: ] We didn’t get a before picture.

Comments

[purpose]

I wonder why that is. They should know what's beyond the city better than anyone, shouldn't they?

[ What she thinks of that is expressed, by volumes, in the furrow of her brow. Still: ]

If you can drag the body back to the Coven, they might be able to tell you more — but it doesn't look infected. From what I can tell, anyway. One of the infected creatures I came across looked ... [ There's no fitting word for it in her lexicon, so she settles simply on, ] Different. Sicker.

[lonewanderer]

They're tight-lipped. [ Lex frowns and it's deep, her talons idly clicking together as she leans on Eren to make sure she's in the screen. ] I don't think-

[ Hm. No. No, they could hear her. ] We should talk when I get back.

[ There's a shake of her head. ]

But no, I don't think it's infected either.

[usurpers]

[ eren shakes his head, ] I’ve ran into something infected. It doesn’t smell the same.

[purpose]

Right. In private.

[ For all that she yeets, she picks up what Lex is putting down — the sudden stop to her sentence, and the suggestion that follows. ]

I'm not sure if showing no sign of infection is better or worse for us. [ But, that aside: ] How did you kill it?

[lonewanderer]

[ There's a faint nod of gratitude. ]

Teeth and claws. Eren's fire breath. We had to confuse it, make it keep taking the face and movements of the other person. Dogmeat went after the ankles, too; helped bring it to the ground.

[purpose]

Smart of you both. [ Her lips twitch, faint. ] And Dogmeat. I should have figured he'd be a fighter like you, too.

[ As for the rest of it, she doesn't directly touch on her surprise. Her own changes have been a sore subject; she can't imagine they aren't the same for anyone else. ]

If there's more out there ... [ Rey tails off, smile fading as her lips pinch. ] We're going to have to find ways of dealing with that, and figure out why they're showing up now. We can't just ignore it and hope someone else won't get hurt the next time we go beyond the city.

[usurpers]

I told you, [ but that’s muttered, into lex’s ear. she was a god damn good fighter to, and he’ll make sure she remembers!

that was all something he could agree with, though, and louder, to rey: ]

It’d be careless to think that. [ that they’re all safe, now that the have a warning. what if there where two mimics at one? three, four? what if they lead pairs to separate? ] A warning’s only a start.

[purpose]

It's the right start.

[ There's a particular emphasis on it, a certainty emanating from her, if only to avoid any misunderstanding that she thinks it's insufficient. They've done well. ]

I'm only worried about what it means for us if there are creatures out there that look like us and act just like us.

[lonewanderer]

Could be they've always been out here. I mean, how many people go out into the Wilde, right?

[ But she sighs, leaning against Eren a little, letting her hand drop down to stroke Dogmeat on the top of his head. ]

Luckily the face seems to be the only thing it changed- and it didn't speak, other than its laughter.

[purpose]

It could be that they were waiting for the right moment to show themselves. Maybe they thought we were easier targets, or — [ She purses her lips, frowning at the line of thought. ] — the mirrorbound arriving here has changed this world in ways we haven't realized yet.

[ It would make sense, Rey thinks, that the world has been thrown off-balance. They aren't supposed to be here, aren't part of this world, despite how it's tried to claim some of them — has tried to change them as it has changed her. ]

The world has been changing us, but I don't think it's as one-sided as we believed.

[usurpers]

You could be more right than you’re wrong.

[ it’s something to ponder deeply over. not to take with them as their only truth, or possibility, but as something to keep in mind.

the faster they put things together, the faster they won’t have to call themselves “mirrorbound”. every moment eren stops to think of how he needs to get back urgently no matter what blip of time and space they’re in, the deep creases scowling his face makes him look thirty. too young for too many problems.

he seems to want to say something, lips parting— before they press shut over many fangs. he doesn’t feel like he could say anything on here anymore. ]

—I’m Eren. [ to rey, who knew lex. ]

[purpose]

I'd like to be wrong. [ If only to spare this world a gruesome fate, involuntarily provoked by their presence. Her voice fades off, softer, though more hopeful when she amends, ] But if I'm not, it gives us somewhere to start.

[ In eliminating the threat, first and foremost. The rest — unraveling their origins, and how they've come to be in this universe — will follow. Without any answers, she has to imbue that thought with her faith. ]

Rey. [ There's no blunt or tact in this introduction, as witnessed by her quick follow-up as she glances between the two. ] Are you Bonded, or just partners?

[usurpers]

[ he’s not actually sure where he’d like his own opinion to stand. if she were right or wrong, would it make a difference? they’d still have to plow their way to the same destination.

ah, well. time will tell. eren nods in acknowledgement, and the slits in his blue eyes widen, just a little. ]

Not yet. [ he doesn’t bat a glance at lex, at least not right now because that meant something was definitely on his mind to bond, but he’ll talk to her about it after this. ] We’ve worked together out her for a little while now.

[lonewanderer]

[ Not yet. There's a little widening of her own eyes, but she doesn't comment on it. ]

The Wilders take volunteers to go out. I like knowing my surroundings, the dangers in them. So.

[ Dogmeat gets his ears rubbed as Lex shrugs. ]

And this way, we're checked for the Cwyld both ways and have backup, if we need it.