Event | Landfall | Bresilyk | Aihsohlow

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: December 3 - 11, 2013
Location: Aihsohlow, Bresilyk (landfall)
Situation: Tu Vishan makes landfall at the winterbound republic of Bresilyk!
Warnings/Rating: Please include warnings in comment subject lines

OOC Post | Approved Items | Special Gifts
Aihsohlow | Phorezton | Markutte | Countryside

The starting point of landfall and the smallest port of importance in all the republic. All visitors will have a fish mark stamped on their tin visa if they are granted access here. The homes here are sturdy and built to withstand the harsh sea winds, though the dome has rendered their sturdiness largely irrelevant as the years pass. Fish represent the primary theme of food, with preserved and smoked renditions a commodity often sent for trade to others towns. Local authorities will ask for the tin card visa of each visitor upon first sight, verifying the information with some scrutiny before handing it back and allowing them to continue onwards. There are some auctions held here, with the items obtained often showing signs of recovery from the ocean floor by diving parties in search of fish to net.

Customs | Settlement | Auctions | Harvest Haul | Other

Comments

[andallbite]

Not only was it quite the reversal, it had been years since he's seen Armin so enthused about something. That in itself wasn't terribly surprising—Armin had always been the one with a thirst for knowledge and the eagerness to see more. Hell, if it weren't for him, Eren wonders if he'd have the same passion for adventuring into the world beyond as he does now.

With all that was going on in such a short amount of time, the same excitement had yet to catch up with him. But he leaps off the dock and chases after Armin despite it, skidding to a halt once Eren manages to reach him again.

"Why—" he starts, in between short breaths. "Why's that? Is it no good?"

Which was weird to think, because the water was so clear. Nothing like the murky river water he was used to seeing around back home.

[strategisch]

It was just all so interesting and new-- the part of him that still thirsted for a better tomorrow was thrilled to find out that what he had learned so long ago was true. The books that he found weren't just fairy tales. Such a world existed... It ignited that place place deep inside his heart that he kept treasured and safely locked away.

"It's salty! It really is!" he replied, practically beaming at Eren over such a mundane thing, "It tastes disgusting!"

[andallbite]

"For real?" This was... salt water? Actual salt water? Then that meant—this was an ocean? Eren immediately collapses to his knees with no regards that he was dirtying his clothes on the wet sand at all, disbelief written all over his face. "You're kidding."

He doesn't wait for Armin to respond, though, as Eren also cups a hand into the frigid waters (and takes a second to suppress the following shudder), then cautiously brings it to his mouth. While he doesn't shove the small handful into his mouth as eagerly as Armin had, having a slight idea of what was to come, Eren isn't exempt from a disgusted look of his own.

He wasn't kidding. This stuff tasted gross. And yet... "No way—it really exists."

[strategisch]

"It does."

Armin leans forward and plants his hands in the sand, feeling as they sunk in deeper and deeper as the tide buried them. It was so cold. Someone here had told him where they lived, the ocean was always warm. Just how big was the world?

"It wasn't a story, or a trick. The things that we read were real. The people here aren't lying either."

"How much is out there that I don't know...?"

[andallbite]

Eren's eyes lift up from the tide washing up to them and further out, off to the side. It makes him think back to the first time Armin rushed to find him, book in hand, because of its words about the outside world... It mentioned the ocean being vast, but it was hard to comprehend just how much—and now that he's looking at it, Eren begins to realize that there's no way he would have ever been able to guess. It was impossible to tell, even though he was looking at it now.

Incredible. He nearly believes he's still dreaming.

'How much is out there that I don't know...?'

Eren has similar thoughts. The past few days have been more than enough for him to feel this way, although...

Seeing this, at least, makes an amazing feeling swell up inside him. So, finally, his entire demeanor brightens up.

"I'd wager... a lot," he admits, and assumes, and claps Armin's shoulder with a friendly pat. "But don't let it get you down. Someday, we're gonna find it all out."

[strategisch]

"No, I'm not," Armin replies with a shake of his head, pulling his hands out of the sand. He disturbs a small conch shell and picks it up to examine it more closely. What an interesting spiral shape-- how does a rock form in such a way? "I couldn't be happier, I promise. Usually it's terrible when I'm proven right, but this is amazing. My only regret is that this isn't our land, and we're the only ones here to see it."

[andallbite]

"Yeah," he agrees, somewhat gloomily, after a moment's pause; amazing as it were, they still weren't home—in their "world", or whatever. They still had a ways to go before they could ever do that.

"If only everyone else could see this, too," Eren continues on. "I wonder what they'd think when they saw it—or if they've even ever heard of an ocean before."

[strategisch]

"That's true. I could never share what I knew with our squad... I'd get arrested if they told anyone."

Thinking about their reactions made him smile warmly. They may not have been as interested in the outside world as he and Eren were, but it was impossible to look at this sight and feel nothing. It made him feel small-- not in the frightening way that Titans did, but in a good way, like he was a tiny piece of something vast and complicated waiting to be discovered.

"Connie and Sasha would go ballistic. But Jean would still manage to be a curmudgeon."

[andallbite]

"Jean's always going to be a pain in the ass," Eren remarks, but somehow his words manage to not sound very vitriolic. Then, slowly, he pushes himself back to his feet, quickly dusting off the sand on his knees before looking back up.

"But he's gotta want to see this, too. Anyone would."

[strategisch]

"I agree," he murmurs, and rinses his conch shell out in the water before pocketing it, "if people knew, maybe they'd have the courage to fight. Maybe they'd feel like it's worth it."

But Armin knows that they didn't for a reason. A century ago, when they retreated to the walls and made their laws, they did it to protect themselves. Cutting themselves off from the outside world completely was only done to make it easier. So nobody wanted to go back.

But it wasn't like that anymore. He wouldn't be pushed into a corner. Now was the time to fight.

"We'll kill them all, right?"

[andallbite]

"We will," he agrees. He's said it a thousand times before in the past, so he probably didn't need to say it again—and it was a little funny to hear it come out of Armin's mouth before his. Nonetheless, Eren was glad to hear it, even if he knew Armin was always on his side.

"Once we get out of here. Nice as this is, you're right—" He lets out a short laugh. "This is kinda like ruining the surprise for when we see it back home, huh?"

[strategisch]

It comforted Armin to know Eren never changed either. If foreign lands and strange new realities meant nothing to his single-minded ambition, what reason did Armin have to be confused?

"If you're any example, we won't remember at all. I think that's for the best though."

[andallbite]

"Oh." Right... It was easy for Eren to forget, considering he had no recollection of his supposed previous stay at all. He stares forward, then looks back at Armin. "You think so?"