Watching the world go by

[savedbyasong]

Who| Shion and open
What| Shion observes the world
Where| In the city, at a fountain
When| This week
Warnings/Notes| None so far

Shion sat at the edge of the fountain, nose buried in a book. Even though he seemed to be concentrating on it immensely he was also watching everyone around him. He might be hard to recognise, his hair had changed again. A deep green colour, with thin strands of gold and silver running through it. He is even wearing eyeshadow, he had thrown himself into trying to gain sponsors, and no longer fought his stylists at all.

He felt like he was balancing on a ledge between having any control over his life and none at all. And he wasn't sure what way he was going to fall, but he was doing his best. His last few weeks had been filled with gatherings and training. He still failed at almost every weapon he picked up, but he had come to terms with the fact he was never going to be a contender in the arena.

He had also been finding out information, the little history he could find, reading the books he had access too. He had spent a good few days reading the post on the communicators, he hadn't responded. Because he did not believe that the Capitol couldn't track posters, even those who were anonymous.

But today he was mostly watching people. Tributes and those from the capitol, watching how they acted and reacted to each other. He had a few sheets of paper and a pencil in the book, and a very bad start of a sketch of the square. He had been spending enough time in the art gallery that it was as good an excuse as any of anyone noticed his interest.

Comments

[clarityinchaos]

It was time to take a chance. There were things Armin needed to do, and he didn't have any resources at all here. He wondered if he could really trust Shion. He'd looked at him in a few of the previous Arenas and he seemed pretty consistent across them all. He supposed they had a bit in common, but he couldn't help his doubts.

So he would use them. He'd been keeping quiet, so it was only natural that Shion would assume certain things. And Shion had some experience with the Capitol that couldn't be ignored.

He had no idea what absurdity Shion's stylists had subjected him to, but he just hoped it was temporary, for his sake.

So when Armin finally approached him, he had a leatherbound folio held against his chest, and a long red trench coat covering the clothing abomination he'd been subjected to since he no longer insisted to wear the harness. Whatever "festivities" were in the air, he wanted nothing to do with it. And he had a feeling it would only get worse as time went on.

"Shion," he called from a measured distance. His own post-arena jumpiness was enough for him to understand not to sneak up on others. "Would you mind some company?" He smiled a bit. It looked sincere enough.

[savedbyasong]

"Hello Armin." Unlike Armin, Shion's smile was sincere, he was glad to see the other boy. Despite their hiccup in the arena he considered him a friend and was glad to see him.

"I don't mind." He shuffled along, though there was already plenty of space for Armin on the edge of the fountain next to him.

[clarityinchaos]

Okay, something was weird here, knowing how their last meeting had ended. But he made himself ignore that. He'd be useless if he focused too much on details like that. He was quiet for a while, holding the folio on his lap, with his fingers wrapped tightly around its spine. "I had thought I was ready for the Arena. I guess I was wrong." May as well address the gorilla in the room.

[savedbyasong]

Shion blinked at him sadly and nodded, "I don't think it is possible to be ready for it. Even for those who have been soldiers." He glanced at the portfolio, interested though not prying for the moment.

[clarityinchaos]

He nodded. "All of this.... it's not right. We shouldn't have to fight over things that have nothing to do with us. I have my own battles to fight at home. Eren and I both do. Not to mention we're not the kind of soldiers that fight people..." He left the door open a crack, to see if Shion would let himself in, so to speak. He knew Eren wouldn't like someone else knowing their business, but they couldn't get home alone, no matter how determined he was.

[savedbyasong]

"The giants right?" He remembered what Armin had told him of his world before. "I'm not surprised you find it hard after that. It is very different." After all it was one thing to fight a giant threat that was attacking your home, another to fight and kill other frightened kids just like you. Neither was easy but one made a lot more sense.

[clarityinchaos]

He nodded, and finally opened the portfolio. "We call them Titans." The first page had a few basic scale sketches. Human, 5 meter Titans, a few other sizes, all the way up to the Collossal Titan next to the walls, with full measurements for all. "We built walls to protect humanity, and we created tools we needed to kill them. They.... don't just kill us. They devour humans."

He could almost feel the saliva on his skin from when he was nearly devoured himself. But he pushed those memories away. He didn't need to get too distracted, but it did contribute to a bit of a faraway look.

[savedbyasong]

He looked over at the drawings. Seeing how huge they were compared to the humans and even compared to the walls humans had made.

He shuddered slightly at the fact that these creatures devoured humans and reached out to touch Armin's arm gently. He wasn't sure if it would work, but touch always helped him when he got mired down in thoughts.

"Is that what your harness was for? Helping to fight them?"

[clarityinchaos]

He nodded to Shion, and he seemed to come back to the present. He glanced around without moving his head much before he turned the page. On that was a front and back sketch of the equipment including closeups of the more critical areas such as where the gear attaches and under the feet.

"We call it 3D Manuever Gear. It allows us access to their weak point." Nowhere in his material was there any depiction of where that was. "But it also lets us access nearly any place, as long as there is enough gas and wire. The barbs will sink into nearly anything."

He let Shion look over the drawings for a moment before he started flipping pages to show all of his detail and measurements, never really settling on one for long.

But then he closed it again. "I am.... Did you see that report? With the people being arrested?"

[savedbyasong]

Shion took it all in, studying each piece in the short amount of time that Armin allowed him. The equipment sounded useful, and not just for attacking these titans.

He blinked and nodded at the words. "Yes... I did." He looked around, of course just because there was no one physically there did not mean that they were not being watched. "Did you see the other thing..."

[clarityinchaos]

He nodded. "Yes, I did..." He ran fingers over the shaved bits of his hair, as though he were still getting used to it. "I had hoped you might know more about that."

[savedbyasong]

"Not really," Shion shrugged, and paused a moment. But Armin had trusted him, and so Shion wanted to repay the favour. After all, not even those that claimed to need no one could do everything alone.

He took out the notes he had made, positioning them in the book he was reading. "Just this."

[clarityinchaos]

Armin leaned over as though he were showing Shion something else in the folio, but it was just that first page again. But he looked at Shion's notes, keeping any reaction to them off his face.

"Do you think they could help me with this?" He needed engineers and metalcrafters still. He knew how the thing went together and what it should look like since they needed to know how to troubleshoot problems in the field, but there was a lot that was beyond his expertise.

[savedbyasong]

"I'm not sure..." He looked at the designs again. "But I am sure there will be someone who can. If not from this world than one of the tributes, "Any old tributes from districts two or three might be able to help as well."