IC contact [Mask or Menace]

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"Gone fishing."

[ so don't leave messages to ruin the after fishing glow !!!

your one stop shop for not leaving him alone ]

Comments

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[Oh.]

But you don't know if you actually did hurt anyone? They won't tell you?

[huntergames]

[ She's been afraid to ask. ]

Jean said we have to be prepared to kill. Armin already —

It doesn't sound like there's a way around it.

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Do you think you're prepared to kill, if there really isn't a way around it?

[huntergames]

... I don't know. Thinking about it makes me feel sick.

There were some boys a while back... they had a knife. Annabeth saved me, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't point a weapon at another human being.

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[Everything happens so much.]

Do you only know how to defend yourself using a weapon?

[huntergames]

They taught us hand-to-hand combat during training, but it's useless against titans.

I know how to use a bow and arrow.

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You remember the hand-to-hand combat you were taught? Because that works on people, and it's good to know.

[What, is he supposed to encourage anything else here?]

[huntergames]

I know... a friend has been showing me how to hone those skills.

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[Who's the friend, is it a boy, does he need to get a rocking chair for the front. And a shotgun.

Maybe she should just visualize anyone coming at her as trying to steal her food and then she won't have any problems with it? #thingsnottojokeabout #forrealtho #kungfusasha]

That's good, isn't it? Or...do you not really like it?

1/2

[huntergames]

[ It's a girl and she's half-goddess. This is an attractive and yet terrifying combination. ]

No, that's not it! It's fine and Annabeth's a good instructor!

[huntergames]

... I guess I'm worried it won't be enough. The boys with the knife wasn't the first time I'd ―

One of those spies last year nearly shot me. An imPort superhero saved me life.

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[Get on that, Sasha. Too hot, hot damn.]

It might not be enough all the time, but it's. [Huff!] Look, there's...those boys? They probably wouldn't have thought you could do anything, they're...boys. [What he means is dumb.] You're not. Exactly intimidating. [What he means is tall and looming.] If you...showed that you could still stand up for yourself, Sasha, sometimes that's all it takes. Need a little more for imPorts, sure, but if you can catch them off guard by doing what they don't expect, or knowing more than they first thought? You already won the upper hand.

[And this is why the underdog is the best.]

[huntergames]

W-What?!

[ Will probably means well, but... ouch. ]

I'm not like Mikasa, but I graduated in the top ten of my training squad!

[ SHE CAN BE INTIMIDATING. ENOUGH. ]

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[Child your wiki says you're 5'5'' and just over 120lbs come on now own that underdog status]

I believe you. [He does, really. Those aren't empty words, an attempt to soothe. This is reminding him of Annie's confusion over him being monstrous of a killer if he'd only gone after young women, but Annie might not be the best person to bring up. So.] Can you keep a secret?

[huntergames]

[ She's been putting on weight here, okay. SHE'S A GROWING GIRL. ]

... yes.

... what is it?

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[That clinking, quiet but still audible, if Sasha knows it, would be the sound of stirring coffee. This discussion isn't as terrible as it sounds, or Will wants it to appear that way.]

You asked if I'd hurt anyone to stop them. I have. But I've also killed two men, because they wouldn't stop otherwise. [Whoops? Will doesn't sound tore up about it. Or all that sad. Fact on top of fact, impersonal. The first bit; his tone changes in the next. Not heated, not angry, but speaking from his own experience instead of what could be taken as reading out of a textbook.] Would I do it again if there wasn't any other way out of it? Yes. Does that mean some people will think I'm bad, or a monster? Probably. But I can't find it in myself to worry much about what other people think. I know who I am, and who I am is still here. Alive.

[At least in regards to the two people he's talking about, at any rate. And this is why he doesn't pay certain things on the Network much attention, fully aware he's got his own opinions that are probably just as close-minded or completely off-base to someone else, too.]

You asked if it was that simple. To me, it is because it has to be.

[huntergames]

[ "They wouldn't stop otherwise" is what stands out to her. That's what their situation back home sounded like. At her current point in the timeline, they've still been framed by the Military Police and they're trying to dissolve the Survey Corps. Everything's a mess and they can't show their faces in public without being jumped. It's too risky. ]

My comrades and I were framed for murder back home. They issued wanted posters of us and everything.

I don't know if I'll ever be ready for killing another human, but it seems... it sounds like there's not much choice. Me or my comrades... or them.

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[Framed for murder, so many secrets, so much relating, so little reason for him to get into that one right now.]

But you haven't gone through that yourself yet. [Let him just make sure this one point sticks out, okay? Not because "if it hasn't happened, don't worry, be happy, everything will be all right, Hakuna Matata," but:] You know that, if we leave here and go back where we come from, we don't remember being here, right? I didn't. Haven't met anyone who claimed they did, either. [If someone out there is saying that, he definitely wants to know about it. So far, hasn't seen like anyone's rocked the boat in that regard.] This won't. Carry over.

[When the time comes, Sasha won't have any memory of this, hmm, fret? Worry? She'll either realize she has no choice and do what has to be done or she'll get swallowed alive.

He'd

much prefer the former. Wouldn't she?]

[huntergames]

If I come back, it'll carry over here.

[ The naiveté is gone and Sasha considers this quite seriously. The mark of a young soldier. ]

I guess I wonder what kind of person I'll be afterwards.

[ And what it feels like, taking someone's life. She hasn't asked Armin or Jean, but she can't imagine it's anything but mortifying. ]

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[It doesn't do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, kiddo. But Dumbledore is such a tool, that's almost as bad as quoting Snape.]

Have you thought that, afterwards, it's possible to be same person you are now, only with new experiences under your belt?

[And a couple of notches in the kill belt, of course.]

[huntergames]

I wonder... but I don't know.

[ That's the difficult part, isn't it? She won't have any idea how she actually feels about it until it's happened. ]

... I'm sorry. This conversation...

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...is nothing to be sorry about.

[Finishing each other's sentences, only Will has a feeling that's not how Sasha would have chosen to finish it. The quiet fondness in his voice hopefully gives away that he doesn't mean to dismiss her feelings because she's not allowed them, or because he's cruel. He just genuinely doesn't mind talking about darker subjects than dogs and hospital tater tots.]

Sometimes you need to talk about heavier stuff than usual. You don't need to apologize for that, we all have...issues that could use being talked about instead of ignored. It's healthy.

[No one tell Chilton he just said that. Ever.]

[huntergames]

[ It puts her at some ease, at least. If there's anyone she's glad to have told, it's Will. ]

I took an oath when I joined the military. We were going to protect humanity. I never expected we'd have to fight humans someday themselves.

[ She breathes in quietly. ]

... thank you, though.

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[He bites down any remarks about how protecting humanity from itself is part of the job, at least as far as Will's concerned. But he works differently, his entire career hunts the hunters. There are no monstrous creatures that, upon first glance, a person can immediately spot as a danger, worth running from, hiding from, praying to whatever god or gods that they'll be spared its bite.]

You're welcome. [Would she still be saying that if she knew what had happened to one of those men he'd killed, if she knew about cannibals who didn't turn into enormous creatures to devour humanity? Perhaps...perhaps that's a conversation he could have with Annie, not Sasha, if it ever came up. Perhaps keeping it from Sasha is the best course of action.] This is what I'm here for...not just signing papers when you need them. Whatever I can help with, just. Let me know, I'll do what I can.

[He misses Abigail so much, holy shit. Some dark-haired young woman please love me.]

[huntergames]

I'm... very grateful, Will.

[ It's jarring to have someone she doesn't know all that well care this much about her well-being, but it does help to know. She doesn't feel so overwhelmed by the differences in this world if Will can explain it and help her through it.

And it seems in spite of being from different worlds, he understands the dilemma she's facing.

Maybe just a bit sad that he can empathize. ]