middaeg | [Open] Let's count the seasons

[Honestly. Eren remembering he was speaking to someone who had a prefrence for being blunt, and didn't care for reading between the lines. Would probably solve most of the issues.]

He said it when I asked why, that's when he said it was to protect us... [Something she'd already mentioned hadn't been a good enough reason for her. She hesitates for a moment. This infomation would be classified.] It's... A thing people who can turn into to titans can do. See the memory of past holders. He said it's the same for future holders too.

[Don't worry Momo. She didn't fully understand eiether and doubted it. If it weren't for Armin having Berthold's memories she'd have dismissed it completely.]

[Momo looks a little skeptical at that, but it's her world, so he can't really question it too much.] Not for nothing, but the more I hear about titans the less they seem to make any sense at all.

[He could deal with "giants that eat people", but the turning back and now mind-melding or whatever this is is straining what little disbelief he has left to offer after coming to a world like this one.]

But as long as he hasn't started doing creeper stuff again. At least that part can be worked out here, even if this bit can't.

[He gestures to the illusionary titans. That's not a disagreement that's going to be entirely resolved in this city, because it bears back on their home.]

[He probably couldn't tell her anything that she hadn't already kicked herself for. She'd had plenty of time to think about everything. What had happened back home, what Eren had said, what he'd done. What she hadn't done and what she should have.

Wondering what would have happened if she'd said something when she'd noticed him being more distant. If she had dismissed it as him maturing from a loud kid to quiet adult.

...As for the titans and their everything. Even she couldn't explain properly.]

Yeah. He's been fine, he never stays around long enough to talk but I've not caught him sneaking around... [It was weird. Uncomfortable even. Before they'd been able to sit for hours talking or in silence. Now that silence was stifling but she couldn't think of anything to say. And it didn't seem like Eren was able to either.

What Eren was doing back home...She wanted it to stop. Wanted to believe it could be stopped, but at the same time. Eren wouldn't stop, he was too stubborn and hardheaded for words to work. And in this place he'd forget anyway. It'd affect nothing, like these false titans that had gotten pretty close now. One step at a time, there was steam but no heat. The destroyed ground behind them would only last a few seconds before fading back to it's original state.]

[Not catching him sneaking doesn't necessarily mean anything, but Momo will take it at face value for now. He doesn't really know Eren at all, so if Mikasa's fine-ish with how things are at the moment then he's not going to read into it too much.

His gaze follows where they step, watching the ground "break" and then the illusion fade seconds later.] That's good, at least. Some progress is still better than none.

[He glances over her shoulder to the moths resting on a tree nearby, apparently giving Mikasa a bit of a berth after that eating incident.] These things must have really powerful illusion magic inherently, though. If only it was that easy for everyone else.

[The biggest thing he's cast an illusion of was a dinosaur, and that was when his magic was jacked up by the Maiuril moons.]

[At this point, he hadn't been following her around or sneaking into her house. The tunnel he'd dug had remained blocked off. It was bad that it'd happened, but it hadn't happened again...She'd take that.]

Yeah...I'm not sure where things are going. But we've talked. [How that talking had gone was up for debate. She wasn't going to argue there. They still had a lot to talk about, but they'd work it out...Or they wouldn't.

The moths staying away wasn't a problem for her. She was avoiding them in turn, hoping that she wouldn't blank out and eat more of them. Partly because they were bugs, partly because this was a bad trip and she didn't want to make it worse.]

Maybe...Or it could be because I'm a fae. Supposedly they can do these things. [To go with that immunity. Not that Mikasa could use those illusions. She'd managed one.]

[Momo considers that thoughtfully, since that could mean potential worse problems on his part too.] Yeah, I actually talked to someone last month during that whole fight at the Northern Outpost who used one. I knew he was a recent arrival and he did too little to cast it for it to be a newbie Witch spell, so I asked if he was a fae and he said yes. But I think he might've had a knack for it, he kinda just did one when I mentioned illusion magic.

[Which seemed remarkably straightforward when he's seen various people struggle and fumble through figuring out their new Monster abilities. Some people adapted better than others, but immediately just doing it off-hand because it felt right smacked of prior experience to him.]

Anyway, I should probably avoid it too, then, since I specialise in illusion magic...just in case.

I still don't fully understand magic. Maybe that's it. [Titans were absurd to a lot of people. But to her they were pretty simple, people turned into giants that ate other people in the hopes of becoming human again.

She could connect the dots. Magic didn't seem to have a straight line between the two points.

But she was looking away. Then heading back to work, it was slow progress for her.] It didn't affect me until I ate one. So you might be safe.

Could be. It definitely takes longer to click with some people than others, and since you're not a Witch there's less pressure to figure it out quickly. [Just the pressure to deal with their Monster changes quickly and without hurting anyone else doing it, so he says that with a certain level of understanding. As it stands, what she's told him about the Titans sounds more like very weird advanced science than magic, so he doesn't conflate the two in this case.

He starts to head back to work as well, but staying a bit further away from the trunk.]

I'd guess we wouldn't be getting hazard pay if it was that easy to avoid them, so I'll err on the side of caution!

[She hums. Giving him a soft nod. Yeah, she...She could read. And she'd tried to study magic, had gotten a basic understanding. But knowing how it was cast was something she'd never be able to learn.

Well, maybe she could with fae's penchant for illusions. But the point was, she was a practical learner. She could remember books and what she'd read, but it was so horribly dry. Then there was the annoyance that she couldn't do the more useful things that witches could do.]

I guess. Though I'm not sure how much of a hazard fake things are... [Alas, she was not creative. Not enough to how dangerous making it seem like there was a path when there was a drop. Or how an endless forest could be crafted.]

Well, who knows how someone might react to seeing something nightmarish like that? Things in your mind can still be dangerous, in one way or another.

[Momo is definitely not speaking from the experience of someone who's had a psychosomatic condition in the past, one of the more literal levels of someone's mind being entirely able to be a threat to their body.]

Besides, I'm an illusionist, so that would be no way for me to think! [He has a fair few illusion spells in his arsenal that can be quite nasty if implemented right, though most of them are more in the vein of concealing himself until he can kill a Shade at point blank range. An illusory distraction at the right time can very much be dangerous too, though.]

You mean if they try to punch something that isn't there and hit someone else. [She shuffles on her crutches, the illusionary titan disappearing into it's own steam. Prompting Mikasa to fidget with her apple basket. Making it easier to move and carry at the same time.]

I guess I shouldn't think that way either. Even if I'm still learning... [She was kind of useless at magic.]

Stuff like that, yeah. [Misdirection can be useful in a fight in a lot of ways. In this case, he figures it's probably some kind of method for the moths to defend their territory, though he feels like it's a bit much even by magical animal defense standards.]

Changing your mindset early can help you pick stuff up quicker! Sometimes it makes it easier to "click", so it can't hurt.

Is that how it works? [She looks at him, peering at his face for a moment. Then away, feeling silly. But...She's know him for a while, long enough to consider him an almost friend. Long enough to admit something silly?

Yeah. Not long enough to look him in the face as she confesses.]

...I'm not very good at that stuff. Being creative... I think that's a part of illusions. [She had a good memory, and by most people's standards was smart...for a farm girl who'd never gone to school. She could make things, she could make them really well.

If she had a plan or something to copy from. Making something from scratch was diffcult for someone who wasn't imaginative.]

Sometimes! It gets harder to succeed at something if you're convinced you're going to fail, in general. [Boy, is he all too familiar with that. Come to think of it, he's all too familiar with a lot of psychological stuff involving feeling like he's not capable of something, but that's absolutely not getting brought up if he can help it.]

Maybe just try with stuff you're familiar with already to start with? When I first started making illusions, I'd do things like flowers and stuff, or costumes I've worn enough to always remember. And just stuff you know can be super useful - I make a lot of illusions of myself, actually, to use as decoys.

[She nods along, makes sense, makes sense- Then the nod pauses as she squints.]

You faked wearing clothes? [Momo. That seemed complicated because moving objects so it was probably good practice, but at the same time she knows at least one person who'd never get dressed if they could fake it.]

[Momo manages to stop himself from laughing at that, but just barely.] No, I was already wearing clothes and cast an illusion of something more complicated on top. I might be open about my body, but I'm not an exhibitionist!

[Probably.]

... [She stares for a moment, moving her apple basket.] And the time you were wearing underwear for people? [At sew N sews. Not that she was actually sure what she was getting into here.

Vague fear, but what if she could bully?]

That's not exhibitionism! [He sounds more confused that she'd take it that way than offended at the suggestion.] Underwear models are super common in my world, and those pictures get seen by way more people than that. The only people who saw me trying on that stuff were the staff in that brothel, and they've obviously seen way worse.

[She hadn't been aiming to offend, she'd been aiming to embarrass. And yet again she'd failed. One day she'd get him... ]

I think you mentioned that...I don't get the place you're from. Is there really that much underwear that it's common?

[It was dry, she's not even surprised enough to get flustered talking about underwear now.]

Well, yeah, clothes are almost all mass produced in my time, so there's a ton of variety in things because we don't have to handmake all of it. [The finer points of industrialisation, even if it comes with its own pile of problems.]

So clothes shops need to advertise all those products, and that includes underwear. And bras, or whatever they call them in this time.

[Momo makes a breast cupping shape in front of his own chest just in case they still call them bustiers or brassiere or something here and he's using an unfamiliar word.] Some people like having fancy undergarments for the bedroom, so there's definitely a big range between useful and comfortable and the ones you're pretty much only going to wear to look nice for a partner.

[His fake boobage just gets a flat look. She did actually know that one. But Momo plz]

I guess you have lights at night? [She was getting better. Maybe? She didn't become as much of a mess as she spoke. Not compared to what she had been before. Are you proud of yourself Momo? But seriously though, not having much light kinda made fancy panties pointless.] It still seems weird. If you wanted something special for them, wouldn't you get something custom-made?

[What was the point if they'd already seen it in a store?]

Yeah, we have lightbulbs. They're pretty bright. [Since the technology here flips back and forth between things he's familiar with and things that got superseded by magic, he figures he might as well clarify.

Though on that note, he has to grin at her question as he considers how exactly to frame the answer. It's one of those things he really takes for granted in his own time.] You're thinking too small. You can definitely get something custom-made if you really want, but that's a lot of money for most people. Within a city - and I'm talking a normal-sized one, not a super huge one like the one I come from - you'd probably have around a dozen shops that either stock that sort of thing or specialise in it outright. And then there's places close enough to travel to if you really want to find something good, or the option of online shopping that lets you order stuff from other countries entirely and have them send it to you in the mail...and then suddenly you have thousands and thousands of options without having to make anything custom, and a lot of those might be particularly exquisitely-made or unique-looking or only have a limited amount made, if you want to go the extra step of "special". Lingerie is a pretty big market.

I've seen them. [She's nodding. They had them back home, sort of. Outside world tech. It was close enough.

Not that she understood a chunk of that. Online shopping? Ordering something from another country? All very big sounding things to a country bumpkin.] It sounds like you guys wear that stuff for...other times.

[Surely that was too much fancy underwear to be in constant use? But she snorts after a moment.] I never knew there were so many kinds of clothes. I started working a tailors' you know? Some of the things we get asked for...

Oh yeah, absolutely. Nobody's wearing that stuff day-to-day for comfort, it's mostly bedroom. Unless someone is into the aesthetic for themselves or just "into it" in general.

[There's a not very subtle eye wiggle at that "into it", just in case the point of what he meant by that needed to be driven home extra hard. Some people do just like the look even if only they know they're wearing it and are willing to suffer for that, but others are going to be into it whether or not there's someone else involved.

But that aside, he nods understandingly at her thoughts about clothing variety.] I can imagine...the big variety in my world is an advantage in that it's really rare that someone has to go to a tailor and spend a bunch of money to get a particular garment, so more stuff is available to everyone. There's still cheap and expensive clothes, and stuff that your average person won't be able to afford which is usually called "designer" clothing, but you can still find things like cheap formalwear if you look in the right places.

[Momo, Momo plz... He's getting the dead-eyed stare back as she leant away a little. Even if the little huff gave away that she'd nearly laughed at his over-acting. Okay...she gets it.]

I think most people can sew and do basic repairs... [She'd learnt needlework from her mother. And she'd heard that the guys shared the work because some were better than others at it.] But the fabric is expensive, you have to make it last.

...I remember when I was younger. For a while, I only had a skirt, a shirt and a cardigan. [Back when they'd had to run with only the shirts on their backs. They'd managed to get some scraps, an old sack to use as a cape to keep the chill out. Really they'd joined the military because Eren and Armin wanted to be the scouts, but the meals, shelter and clothing was a perk that inticed many.]

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me writing this tag after it's comfirmed there has been winged titans

flightans...

.......heck yeaah?

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