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[mrballisticsdummy]

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[mrballisticsdummy]

I have plenty of hobbies. Just...none of them I can indulge in.

But, look, I'm not here to be all buddy buddy with you. You're the one person I was supposed to leave alone.

[14thcommander]

Time to expand the list, then.

[The one person I was supposed to leave alone.]

Warren told you that?

[mrballisticsdummy]

No, I had a chat with the Admiral himself and set up ground rules.

Yes, Warren.

And I am in no way bored. I have plenty keeping me occupied. Or well, I will soon.

[14thcommander]

[He's protective...] How sweet.

I am sorry to say that if you're trying to persuade me to leave you alone for the month, saying things like that is not going to do the job.

[mrballisticsdummy]

Oh, now I've got your attention with vague promises of something nefarious?

I'm just reading.

I've already been to Zero. Don't really want to go back.

[14thcommander]

You had my attention from the start. And you still have it. How do you feel about cliff diving?

[mrballisticsdummy]

Neutral. Not really how I get my thrills.

Why are you doing this anyway?

[14thcommander]

Approaching you specifically, or the job in general?

[mrballisticsdummy]

Me specifically. You don't want to work with me.

[14thcommander]

I don't know that yet.

Believe it or not, Warren didn't tell me that much. He wanted to abnegate from interfering between us in case of a pairing. I found that fair.

[mrballisticsdummy]

Fair enough. But it would save you a lot of time if you'd just listen to me about it. But first thing's first - we're not talking about Warren.

I fucking hate all of his so-called friends here. The last one that tried to play that angle with me found himself sans hands.

So! I thought we were settling on an activity since I'm apparently not stimulated enough for your liking.

[14thcommander]

[A muffled cough, actually a muffled giggle. I fucking hate all of his so-called friends. Hange is one of those, but she won't take it personally.]

Okaaaay. [Brightly:] I can show you a titan!

[mrballisticsdummy]

[He knows very well. He just doesn't want to hear it.

But - ]

Titan?

1/2

[14thcommander]

They're enormous humanoids from my world that relentlessly devour other humans... ranging from three to around sixty meters tall... insentient beings that subsist off of photosynthesizing...

[14thcommander]

So, you wanna see?

[mrballisticsdummy]

...yeah, actually.

[14thcommander]

Yeah! In the wild or restrained? Or we can do both!

[mrballisticsdummy]

Hey, this is your field trip, Ms. Frizzle. I'm just along for the ride.

[14thcommander]

Then we'll do both!

Give me... half an hour. I assume you know where the Enclosure is.

[mrballisticsdummy]

Yup.

--

He's there in half an hour, jeans and a sweatshirt with the hood back. He's not particularly nervous about meeting her in person; there's plenty to be distracted by. He's not exactly pleased that he got sucked in so quickly by her call to adventure, but it's something to do and there's only so much tinkering he can accomplish before his eyes start to cross.

So he waits, also trying not to seem too excited about seeing something new.

[14thcommander]

Hange turns up on time. She could be messy about that even with a military background, but she does make an effort for her inmates. In person she is lanky, androgynous, with an eyepatch covering her left eye and hair pulled up in a messy, floppy ponytail, and she is in uniform and wearing the tactical gear, which is basically indescribable. To the untrained eye it's a mess of straps and swords and hilts and boxy scabbards and gas tanks all connected.

"We'll see the captured ones first... the little guys."

[mrballisticsdummy]

Fascinating.

He takes her in with a trained eye, though that doesn't do much except tell him that it's a uniform. Of what? He has no idea.

But apparently she means business.

"Can't wait. So what? These things are in your world? What's their story?" he asks, shoving his hands in his pockets. He'll follow after her.

[14thcommander]

Hange leads the way, pausing to key in their destination. She does it quickly. Hange visits home in the Enclosure regularly.

"Eh... one hundred years ago, titans drove my people into the walls. You'll see them. Relentless foes of humanity, who regenerate swiftly from wounds... the nape is the weak point but only the nape. Slice off their head, and it'll regenerate within a minute and a half, usually."

Going deeper into the Enclosure spits them out in... a small-ish area, made smaller by makeshift walls erected around. These walls look like canvas stretched over wooden frames. They wouldn't stop a loose titan, but they keep rubberneckers off.

Sawney and Bean are about as restrained as it's possible to get, collared in multiple ropes attached to frames surrounding them, literally pounded full of enormous nails, in places nailed to the ground. They are hot, hotter than humans, and as Jacobi gets closer, the heat increases and Sawney and Bean shift to eye approaching potential prey. Their faces are disproportioned but recognizably humanoid, and draw naturally into smiles, like a baby seeing someone it likes. They don't have nipples. They don't have genitals. There's a smell to them, a hot, wet, and sulfurous smell.

Hange shadows Jacobi.

"Don't get too close..."

[mrballisticsdummy]

He doesn't know what he was expecting, but it isn't that. He stares, pretty openly, eyes wide as he takes them in. He doesn't shy away from their gaze, doesn't seem to be afraid of them, but he does heed her words and stays back, not getting too close to them.

"What the fuck, Hange?" is really all he can think of to say at the moment. It takes half a second and he's back in his normal headspace, chuckling softly.

"What are you doing with them in here?"

[14thcommander]

"These two are samples!"

She circles around, keeping Jacobi on her right so he remains in her peripheral vision. Usually her expression seems to want to smile, even when Hange is not smiling - now it drifts into neutrality.

"I am, or I was, a titan researcher.. for most of my life. We understood so little of them for so long. We knew so little for so long. Every sample we captured could add to our baseline knowledge about titans."

She points between them.

"This is Sawney, and this is Bean. Two smaller specimens. It's really too much of a risk to bring in a larger one... we're within the walls now."