[ No need to come at a man this harde. He had an excellent glow-up. ]
For the most part, no. [ Sorry, Levi, one of your eyes might be fucked up seeing as you had to get an eyelid stitched up. At least the other eye seems to be working just fine, seeing as Levi's able to sit up, look at them, and tell them to shut up every once in a while. It's actually a relieving sign when he does that. ]
You don't sound too surprised to see me, so you probably already know about the timeline stuff, huh? What's the last thing you remember?
[ Jean is really wondering how much he's allowed to disclose now. How do timelines work? If he helps Levi catch up, is this knowledge that Levi will take back with him into the past and change the future with? Does that mean everything that Jean knows now will stop existing when he returns? It's so unpredictable then, what he'll be returning to. He might not even exist anymore and be replaced by a Jean who was guided by the circumstances to make different choices.
Then again, Levi might also just lose his memory entirely, like Mikasa seems to have, changing nothing. That's actually a difficult thought too. If the past could be changed, he would tell Levi to make Sasha stay home on that one painful day. ] That far back ... It's been 4 years.
[ Hold on. He seems to be a little slow on the uptake today. ] Wait. You haven't made it to Shiganshina?
[ He may not even know about Erwin. Jean's never been great at hiding how he feels, so Levi might pick on the way he furrows his brows, eyes downcast as his mind floats elsewhere. They've had some wins, but as always, it's just been loss after loss. ]
[ four years... fuck. he knew it had to have been awhile, judging by how different Eren looked (even without the lizard parts), but for some reason having an actual number made it feel more unsettling. what do those two know that he doesn't?
does he even want to know? the look on Jean's face says 'maybe not.' ]
No.
[ weird how he never had much of a problem with fear, even in the faces of giant monsters. not until recently. ]
A lot has happened since then, but you've probably figured that out.
[ A lot that he's decided to omit from Levi, because it might be better that he doesn't know. While Jean doesn't like the idea of keeping information from others, this is a special case. Anything he tells Levi will just be forgotten when they all return, so it's not like the circumstances can be changed. It would just be unneeded cruelty. ]
I can tell you some of it. [ The nice bits, maybe. ] You wanna grab a bite or something first? [ He has some money (???) that he managed to get running errands for some shopkeepers. ]
[ oh, he's figured it out, all right. he can tell just by looking at Eren (and now Jean, too) that they've Seen Some Shit. and of course, all of them had already seen plenty even before that.
he's never been an optimist. ]
That would be helpful. [ would it, though? ] Might as well before I inevitably lose my appetite.
Right ... [ If Jean were to tell Levi what he really knows, he suspects that the older man might be losing his appetite for at least a week. There's no need to give an already tired man more anguish, so he's decided to only reveal the more light-hearted things. Jean starts to move across the marketplace, looking for any affordable food stalls that might offer something delicious. There's a little seafood stand just a few paces away, selling assorted kinds of cooked fish and prawns, along with steamed cockles and mussels.
Given that, with the exception of fish caught in river streams, they were only really introduced to seafood after they captured Niccolo, he suspects that Levi's probably never seen some of this before? Or maybe it's not that much of a surprise to him given that he's been walking around. ]
Oh. We have some of this kind of food back home now.
[ there's an absolutely gigantic elephant in the room and he knows it. but either one of them will spill the details, or he'll go home and experience them for himself. it's definitely not an easy thing to mentally set aside, but for now at least, he'll trust that his subordinates will tell him what he needs to know.
—ah, yes. fish. a rarity back home, even on the surface. or it was, at least. ]
You mean from the ocean?
[ he may not know what exactly went down in Shiganshina, but he can infer that the ocean is somewhere in his future. it might be exciting to think about if everything else wasn't shrouded in uncertainty. ]
[ This is a good topic to start on. It's not needlessly depressing and it should give Levi some sense of how much they managed to accomplish. It's not like Jean enjoys sugarcoating reality - that goes against a large part of his personality - but there's nothing to gain from telling Levi things he cannot change and devastating him for no reason. ]
Yeah, we reached it. The water tastes like shit and it burns when it gets in your eyes.
[ There's a bit of a snort at that, like he's found humour in his anticlimactic revelation. As bad as seawater tasted, and as much as he hated getting it in his eyes, all those sensations are linked to a very happy memory. ]
[ that first comment earns Jean a quiet snort in return. do all these kids talk like him now?
...shit, they aren't kids anymore, are they? ]
We went to all that trouble and you can't even drink the water?
[ that's what Armin wouldn't shut the fuck up about all this time? what a joke. he doesn't doubt that it is indeed beautiful, though. it's tough to even picture it. will it be as incredible as the first time he saw the sky?
It tastes a bit like ... if you were to put ten tablespoons of salt into a bowl of soup. [ So drinkable as a last resort, but plain awful. Even if he's talking about how unpleasant the seawater was, Jean finds it in himself to break out into a small, contented smile. They had on that day they first saw the ocean. It might have been the only time he's ever had fun on a scouting mission. ]
But you can distill it. Salt prices have dropped since we reached the ocean. [ Food tastes a little better with how salt is more abundantly available, and they have some new kinds of food as well. A lot of depressing things have happened during the recent years, but they've had some small wins. ]
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this just means jean should give levi a piggyback ride
For the most part, no. [ Sorry, Levi, one of your eyes might be fucked up seeing as you had to get an eyelid stitched up. At least the other eye seems to be working just fine, seeing as Levi's able to sit up, look at them, and tell them to shut up every once in a while. It's actually a relieving sign when he does that. ]
You don't sound too surprised to see me, so you probably already know about the timeline stuff, huh? What's the last thing you remember?
pass
Leaving for Shiganshina.
[ he's been asked this before, only to get a cryptic response. Eren do be like that these days. ]
i will find a way to make this happen
Then again, Levi might also just lose his memory entirely, like Mikasa seems to have, changing nothing. That's actually a difficult thought too. If the past could be changed, he would tell Levi to make Sasha stay home on that one painful day. ] That far back ... It's been 4 years.
[ Hold on. He seems to be a little slow on the uptake today. ] Wait. You haven't made it to Shiganshina?
[ He may not even know about Erwin. Jean's never been great at hiding how he feels, so Levi might pick on the way he furrows his brows, eyes downcast as his mind floats elsewhere. They've had some wins, but as always, it's just been loss after loss. ]
nope
does he even want to know? the look on Jean's face says 'maybe not.' ]
No.
[ weird how he never had much of a problem with fear, even in the faces of giant monsters. not until recently. ]
no subject
[ A lot that he's decided to omit from Levi, because it might be better that he doesn't know. While Jean doesn't like the idea of keeping information from others, this is a special case. Anything he tells Levi will just be forgotten when they all return, so it's not like the circumstances can be changed. It would just be unneeded cruelty. ]
I can tell you some of it. [ The nice bits, maybe. ] You wanna grab a bite or something first? [ He has some money (???) that he managed to get running errands for some shopkeepers. ]
no subject
he's never been an optimist. ]
That would be helpful. [ would it, though? ] Might as well before I inevitably lose my appetite.
no subject
Given that, with the exception of fish caught in river streams, they were only really introduced to seafood after they captured Niccolo, he suspects that Levi's probably never seen some of this before? Or maybe it's not that much of a surprise to him given that he's been walking around. ]
Oh. We have some of this kind of food back home now.
50 years later
—ah, yes. fish. a rarity back home, even on the surface. or it was, at least. ]
You mean from the ocean?
[ he may not know what exactly went down in Shiganshina, but he can infer that the ocean is somewhere in his future. it might be exciting to think about if everything else wasn't shrouded in uncertainty. ]
no subject
Yeah, we reached it. The water tastes like shit and it burns when it gets in your eyes.
[ There's a bit of a snort at that, like he's found humour in his anticlimactic revelation. As bad as seawater tasted, and as much as he hated getting it in his eyes, all those sensations are linked to a very happy memory. ]
But it was beautiful.
no subject
...shit, they aren't kids anymore, are they? ]
We went to all that trouble and you can't even drink the water?
[ that's what Armin wouldn't shut the fuck up about all this time? what a joke. he doesn't doubt that it is indeed beautiful, though. it's tough to even picture it. will it be as incredible as the first time he saw the sky?
he'll find out one of these days. ]
no subject
It tastes a bit like ... if you were to put ten tablespoons of salt into a bowl of soup. [ So drinkable as a last resort, but plain awful. Even if he's talking about how unpleasant the seawater was, Jean finds it in himself to break out into a small, contented smile. They had on that day they first saw the ocean. It might have been the only time he's ever had fun on a scouting mission. ]
But you can distill it. Salt prices have dropped since we reached the ocean. [ Food tastes a little better with how salt is more abundantly available, and they have some new kinds of food as well. A lot of depressing things have happened during the recent years, but they've had some small wins. ]