middaeg | Aguril catchall

[It wasn't as though she was good a laughing when she did find something amusing. Faking it would have been impossible. The same went for smiles, it'd have looked obvious on her face.

But she swallows, head dipping. Glancing at the ground.]

I'm not sure...You're lucky to have escaped death, but you didn't...At the same time. [He'd still died to begin with. So, magic. It made everything complicated, even something that should have been simple like death. And besides-]

If you were lucky, you wouldn't have been in that situation to start with. Would you? [It's quiet and unsure because, really, she didn't know. Some counted themselves to be lucky that they could escape to this place, others considered it an annoyance. She wasn't sure what to think of it. Not until she had 100% proof that everything was still back home.]

[ Whether or not Sougo is lucky to have come here in the first place is still up for debate for Sougo. He had something important to do back home, something where the fate of multiple worlds literally hung in the balance.

But at the same time while he's here, it buys him a little more time to live. It's ironic, but even though being here did result in at least one death that didn't stick for him, it kept him from another one that would. At least, as far as Sougo is aware of his own impending future, though it hasn't been written yet.

He breathes in sharply, and exhales slowly as he stalls to answer that question. It's not an easy one. ]

Maybe not... Though it might have been my fault I was in it.

[ Mikasa might be bad at them, but that sad smile pulls slightly at the corner of Sougo's mouth as he looks at the street ahead of them. ]

They give us lots of warnings about what happens if you don't form a bond, right?

[Mikasa still wasn't sure where their luck lied. Some had told her to take the time, recuperate, learn new things. But what good was that ultimately? In the end she'd forget and reawaken on that rooftop. Not matter how long she was here, how many plans she made to deal with everything, it wouldn't help.

Bonds...She holds the sigh back at that. After her recent bouts of tiredness, she'd caved. Emet-Selch might not have met her criteria for 'harmless' but she knew him from Mettaton...And as of the current moment in time, didn't particularly care for him as a person. He seemed knowledgeable enough, someone she didn't have to mince words with. Lest he got offended or upset.]

They do...And we never listen. [She hadn't. She'd brushed it off. Not so much out of a sense of pride, that she was different like some might have. But because of Eren's chilling words of her being bound to serve. Even knowing it was false, those words still rung though her head.] I...Ate a rabbit-thing, tried to bite one person, managed to bite another person...

[It was horribly fortunate that she'd only had chance to kill one thing.]

[ It's a more understandable excuse than Sougo has. In large part his had been based in carelessness. Though if he were to be completely honest with himself, and he rarely is, then he would admit that an even larger part has to do with the fact that even after all the personal growth he's gone through he's still a lot more guarded about his emotions than most people are.

It's not like Bonding allows someone unhindered access to your head, but there are things within the description of a Bond that has made him hesitant in a way that he's not even fully cognizant of in the choices he's made.

Her admission does stop him from focusing on his own problem, and instead shift worry onto hers. That's another Sougo based problem though, in that it's easier to focus on the needs of others and ignore focusing on fixing himself. ]

Just bite though, right? So they were probably okay after...?

[She scoffs, a low noise from the back of the throat. 'Just a bite']

Yeah. The first person had metal so it did more damage to me, the second poked me in the nose... [Just jabbed a finger there enough to make her flinch back.] The rabbit thing wasn't just a bite though.

[That thing...It'd been eviscerated.]

[ His expression falls a little at that. It's not like he's not a meat eater or anything himself, but at the same time he's not sure how he feels about the idea of having to see his food die.

He certainly wouldn't want to eat it quite so raw either. ]

Mmm, I guess not...

[Mikasa was a farmer. She'd hunted, she'd accepted that you had to kill and animal to eat it, had done so a few times. Couldn't be picky or squeamish when there wasn't enough food to go around.]

I'm still not sure what it was... A rabbit with horns. [Horns that had worked against it. Made it diffcult for it to run away. The rabbit couldn't dart into a small hole where the fae couldn't follo.]

I guess it was a good job it was a wild animal. [She shrugs slightly, still walking.] I used to farm, but someone said any animals I got would be eaten. [It's be a waste of money.] Have you done anything like that? Farm?

[He's getting the curious head tilt. Most people here hadn't, they'd all had strange jobs that weren't even a thing where she was from.]

With horns?

[ There's a few names for mythological rabbits like that, but unfortunately they're not ones that Sougo himself is familiar with, so right now he's imagining something far more wild than say a jackalope.

He's broken out of this imagination spiral by the question, and gives himself a moment of foolish looking blinking at the revelation that Mikasa used to be a farmer. For some reason he hadn't expected to ever hear that, though it would make sense why she was so strong now.

It's got to be hard to do a job like that in a world like hers... ]

Ohhh... Not really?

[ Not at all. ]

I was a student for most of my life, and after I graduated... I was preparing to be a king?

[ This makes Sougo sound like royalty. He definitely is not. This is just a weird delusion he developed as a kid, and unfortunately gained the powers to make a reality. ]

[She nods. She didn't know the actual name, those things didn't exist where she was from. It was a rabbit with horns and that was that.

...And whatever she was going to say about him being in education for a long time dies in her thoart. Eyes widening.]

...A King? [Then she's squinting. Looking him over, then shrugging. He didn't look like a king. Or nobility at all, he seemed to nice.] What were you then, in between those?

[ In a very literal sense they don't exist where he's from either, but people do love their legends.

The reason he doesn't look much like a king or nobility is simple, it's because he very much isn't. His aspirations to kingdom are based on a strange dream that he later found out was a blurry memory of a time probably better left forgotten.

Still, when you've spent your entire life making outlandish claims about your future position it's hard to just let it go.

As for her question, he laughs a little nervously, looking ahead of them. ]

Unemployed, I guess?

Ah...[And it's a knowing nod. She didn't miss those times. The years between the fall of Wall Maria and joining the cadets.]

Warehouse floors are the worst to sleep on, aren't they? [Well not really. Outside, huddle in a gap on the streets was worse but... She mainly remembered the grain storage houses. Emptied by the food shortages.]

What are you studying to do?

[And as they walk they move through the places of industry in the city. Past large factories. Buildings with large windows and pullies to get goods onto the upper floors. Children no older than eight running around carrying bundles and boxes. A sight which didn't bother Mikasa.

She'd done farmwork all her childhood, until she'd joined the milatary.]

Huh?

[ It seems like a wild leap to him to assume that he was sleeping on a warehouse floor when he didn't have a job. Then again, they've well established the differences between their two worlds are pretty stark.

Maybe even more than the differences between his world and this one. ]

I still slept in a bed at my uncle's house.

[ His voice trails off a little as he takes notice of the first small batch of kids running by, brow furrowing as he takes in the sight. He's significantly less used to this than Mikasa is, and it doesn't sit quite right with him. ]

I wasn't studying anything in particular, I was just in school.

[ He glances over at her, and does take note nothing about her demeanor suggests she's taking particular note of these children. ]

When you're still a kid you have to study where I'm from. Is it different in your world?

Oh. [She's just nodding.] You had family. [If it wasn't said so dully, like she'd realised she'd made a dumb mistake. It might have sounded snide. But it didn't. Makes sense, makes sense.]

It's not. I never went to school. [There was three years of military training. But a lot of that was physical conditioning, gear maintenance. It wasn't really varied, given most of those training would die in the first year.]

I know how to read though, my parents taught me... [Home schooling! Except the subjects were probably lacking compared to what Sougo might have expected...Or not. But she's moving on, giving a small snort as her eyes creased shut.]

I didn't have my own bed until I was fifteen and joined the corps. [She'd shared with her parents when she was young, then the homeless years, then the large shared beds in cadets... It's the little things...

...The little things that made her world sound a lot worse than it was.]

[ He smiles awkwardly at that comment, because it's a complicated situation. His parents died when he was still very young, but from what she just said he has a feeling she's in the same boat on that front. In fact, it sounds very much like she doesn't even have as much family as he does.

Though his expression becomes increasingly surprised as she goes on, from learning that she did have parents long enough to be able to teach her, to the fact that she joined the military as a teenager.

He knows that their worlds are so different, and Mikasa's situation is a lot more dire than his own, but that's still a shock to hear. ]

You joined when you were fifteen?

[She shrugs, just as nonchalant as before about it. Yup this was normal.]

I joined cadets when I was twelve, then graduated at fifteen... One of the other places. They've had...younger.

[Her head fell a little there. Thinking of Marley's warriors program. The walls would take in cadets at twelve for training, and the training was tough enough that there were deaths. But Marley was throwing ten-year-olds into fights]

[ Normal in her world, but clearly not in his judging by the clear shift to distress on Sougo's face. Fifteen is way too young, but twelve is even worse. ]

I know things in your world where pretty serious, but isn't that still too young? You were just a kid.

[ He was just a kid when he started fighting too, and could still be argued to be one, but at least he was at the very tail end of his childhood. ]

[She could tell. But what could she say to that? The scout's recurits were normally older now. People who'd transferred from the garrison and MP now they were less needed. Now the scouts were considered the 'heroes' and not 'suicidal morons', but it didn't change when she'd joined. Nor it did it change that the little girl she'd saved in Trost had joined the moment she was old enough.

So she hesitates to answer. Mouth opening and closing as she thought of the words.]

... There wasn't much choice. We got three meals a day for it, a roof.

[And avoided the stigma of being a coward. Which didn't really mean much to her, she'd told the others as much, there was no shame in growing food. She can only add a small shrug.] I don't know if I'd be alive now if I hadn't joined.

[If she'd managed to stop Eren from joining. That would have messed up the Warrior's plans if the founding titan had become a random famrer out in the boonies. But they wouldn't have found out about the outside, would they?]

[ It's still troubling, but maybe he shouldn't be one to criticize. In the future he himself apparently created, didn't his future self force people into a similar situation? His friends, Geiz and Tsukuyomi, were his age when they traveled back to the past to stop him before he started. That means at the time they joined up with the rebellion to fight his tyrannical future self that they were also teenagers.

Technically he was still in high school when he started fighting monsters, and he was sort of backed into a corner if he wanted to survive, though his job of being a hero still didn't seem as dangerous as what Mikasa was doing.

Up until people really started to die.

So while he doesn't look at all happy with her answer, he does give a small nod of concession. It makes sense, even if he doesn't want it to.

Though still, even as he concedes this particular point, he looks to the side to see another group of children scurry past them, jointly carrying a bag that looks too heavy for any one of them to manage alone. ]

What happened to the kids that didn't join the army though?

[ Surely there must have been some that didn't, after all. ]

[Just wait. People also died in training...Their instructor cut the ropes to test reaction times. But Mikasa doesn't mention that, because what happened with the others? Well, she couldn't be sure.

So she shrugs. Thinking of her answer for a bit.

Because those that didn't join at all. They were considered a coward. It was funny in a way, those that joined were considered crazy if they wanted to fight the titans. It seemed like the only approved reason for joining the military was to gain one of those coveted top ten spots, a chance to move further within the walls. The garrison, fixing and watching the walls was an acceptable compromise. Joining the scouts had been considered suicide.

Drop-outs. Well, it was better to have not met the standards than not tried at all.

But none of that answered what happened with them.]

...I guess they'd just keep scraping by. Like I did before I joined. We only got food if there was spare. And before that, when there was more people... The govement ordered anyone old enough to serve to go outside the walls to deal with the food shortage.

[That's finished with a sigh. Her eyes sliding shut. Yeah, she'd been able to detach from the horror of reclamation effort all those months ago but... It was bad. She'd known it had been. But talking to all these people really made it apparant. They'd just sent a quartar of million people out to die.]

[ Everything about her world is hard to imagine, and even if kids are used as part of the labor force here, it's not the same as intentionally putting them at risk during training, and it's not sending them off to a likely death.

But he also wasn't the one that had to live in this world either, and as he asks his questions he starts to notice her reactions. It's not like Mikasa is telling him outright she doesn't want to talk about this subject, but the way she sighs and closes her eyes makes him feel like maybe this isn't something she wants to be reminded deeply of.

He's not sure he would want to be if he was her.

So he sighs himself as he looks around, trying to think of how to change the topic. ]

Mm, but the food situation here isn't that bad, and even if there are things that need fighting there are lots of adults to do it...

[ He trails off and pauses for a moment, taking another look around at the smattering of workers that are visible from where they are now. Not all of them are children. In fact, it's safe to say that there's a pretty wide range of ages working out here. Still, it doesn't sit well with him. ]

So why are so may kids running around working?

[If he was to press, her reason for not talking was that she simply didn't know. That her thoughts of the possibilities were probably worse than what actually happened to these kids.

But the mention of the native kids makes her look at them. Though the mention of the food does get a gruff noise from her.]

It's not that bad in this part of the city... [Those poor slum people, but technically they weren't in the city were they?]

They probably just need the money. [It's a blunt, simple answer. But normally simple was right.]

[ Sougo hums in acknowledgement at her correction. It's a decent point, and one that his world does still contend with as well. After all, even if not everyone is in dire straits the world over, it doesn't mean it's a perfect place for all.

Like the kids, apparently, who are already having to earn their living at a bizarrely you age. ]

I guess... Do you think they don't have anyone to take care of them?

[ He was "lucky" in that he had his uncle when his parents passed away, but even if he hadn't he'd expect some organization to take the kids under their protection, feed them, provide for them... Not to force them to work. ]

[That's something the fae couldn't answer, even after looking over at the kids. Eyes roaming over them. Taking in the stare of their clothes, the dirty faces. It gets a small hum, if they had parents then those holey clothes would have gotten some form of repair right? Unless they didn't even have thread.]

Maybe, maybe their families are just poor. [But that was a lot of destitute families for there to be so many children.

But before they have much time to think about it. There was a loud slam of a door opening and shutting, a man. A well-dressed man, who stood out so much next to the barefooted children with their torn clothes. Was storming out and over. The effect was immediate, the children pausing their play, all turning they're heads to look at the man. Some dodging back and keeping their distance as he marched over.

Whatever he said was too quiet for the mirrorbound to hear, but it made some of the children take another step back, and the fae to take a step forward. Her wings almost hitting the witch as they started to unfurl.]

[ The situation must be pretty dire if their family isn't able to watch after these children, clothe them in anything that isn't full of holes, and can't send them off to school. It's not impossible though, and Sougo nods thoughtfully in response before the well-dressed man steps out.

Everything seems to happen quickly from there, and it's only by luck that Sougo sees the wings move in the corner of his eye to quickly move back, then step around them while he puts a friendly looking smile on his face.

He doesn't know what happened just now, but he doesn't like it any more than Mikasa does. Still, the fae's mood changed fast in that instant and Sougo's going to try to play damage control while he assesses this situation.

It's why he calls out to the man, even giving a little wave to get his attention. ]

Hello!

[ The friendliness that Sougo is displaying doesn't look like it's about to be returned by the man, who already doesn't look like he's in the best mood. ]

[Those wings.. The fae wasn't the biggest thing around here. But she was a lot bigger than most fae. Not that she was doing much at the moment, standing there. Watching... Looming. Working out if she needed to act or her instincts were setting off a false alarm.

The man. He hardly looked at the mirrorbound, giving them a small sneer as he moved. Paying them no mind as he got closer to the children. Asking what they were doing, almost quietly. That dangerous calm tone that said he already knew. Raising his voice when one of the children attempted to speak up. Asking who pays for their meals and shelter.]

Aguril catchall

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warning for the victorian times being poop for kids

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