Uh hey. It looks like I'm gonna be here for a while, so does anyone know where I can get my hands on a van? I'm gonna need somewhere to live once the weather gets better. I can't just crash on people's couches forever.
[Please take it easy on him. Remember Greg, they didn't have more than horse-drawn carts where he was from. All he's learned about technology he learned here, and boy, it has been a steep learning curve.]
[Armin's voice warms, talking about the concept of learning more and experiencing new things with the sort of fondness one might reserve for a lover or child. Armin doesn't have either of those, so for now, broadening his knowledge (and the ocean) can be his number one love.]
And nobody punishes or discourages you from it here.
Where I'm from humanity-- or, well, at least the part of it that I belong to lives among tall Walls. Going outside the Walls or even wanting to discuss or learn about what is outside the Walls is considered heresy and punishable by death.
[Which is... very much not all right. But really, it's just the tip of the traumaberg. Life can be kind of rough in a world where giant monsters eat people and also the government is corrupt.]
It's not even Greg specifically (though the fact that Armin barely knows him doesn't help) rather than he just prefers not to talk about this sort of stuff too much. He's discussed it with a few people, but it is not like that has ever changed things. Talking won't bring back his parents or his grandfather. It won't undo what the government had done to them.
Besides, everybody knows that the best way to handle distressing memories is to ball them up tight in the far recesses of your mind where they can slowly fester.]
[Greg's not going to push. He didn't push with Rose and he won't push with Armin. People will tell you things in their own time or they won't. And if they don't, that's fine too.]
Okay.
Anyway. Yeah. Gem stuff is pretty amazing. Rose was pretty amazing too. Though it's kinda funny seeing her in regular human clothes now. Since Gems are made of solid light, they just-- have their clothing as part of them.
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Re: (Private)
Man, I wish Pearl were here. She could make one to show you.
(Private)
[Please take it easy on him. Remember Greg, they didn't have more than horse-drawn carts where he was from. All he's learned about technology he learned here, and boy, it has been a steep learning curve.]
Re: (Private)
[I MEAN IT'S NOT LIKE GREG'S A SCIENTIST OR ANYTHING.]
(Private)
[Greg has been there. He should know how the 4th Wall Weekends can fuck with a man's brain.
And also probably fuck with some other parts of you if your dead wife just happens to be here, but that is neither here nor there for Armin.]
Re: (Private)
(Private)
[listen, that is the conclusion he is drawing here. Nobody is getting educated from this conversation. Just more confused.]
Re: (Private)
I think humans can make them too, but not solid like gems can. And they're not as sophisticated as Pearl's are.
(Private)
[He chuckles.]
Each time I think I've started to understand it, it turns out there is even more.
Re: (Private)
(Private)
[Armin's voice warms, talking about the concept of learning more and experiencing new things with the sort of fondness one might reserve for a lover or child. Armin doesn't have either of those, so for now, broadening his knowledge (and the ocean) can be his number one love.]
And nobody punishes or discourages you from it here.
Re: (Private)
Oh.
Oh man. That's. That's unexpected and kinda heavy.]
Did they do that back where you come from?
(Private)
[A pause, then he adds:]
My parents were heretics.
Re: (Private)
I'm so sorry.
(Private)
[Which is... very much not all right. But really, it's just the tip of the traumaberg. Life can be kind of rough in a world where giant monsters eat people and also the government is corrupt.]
Re: (Private)
But. Okay.
If you ever need anyone to talk to...?
(Private)
[Polite, but very far from a yes.
It's not even Greg specifically (though the fact that Armin barely knows him doesn't help) rather than he just prefers not to talk about this sort of stuff too much. He's discussed it with a few people, but it is not like that has ever changed things. Talking won't bring back his parents or his grandfather. It won't undo what the government had done to them.
Besides, everybody knows that the best way to handle distressing memories is to ball them up tight in the far recesses of your mind where they can slowly fester.]
Re: (Private)
Okay.
Anyway. Yeah. Gem stuff is pretty amazing. Rose was pretty amazing too. Though it's kinda funny seeing her in regular human clothes now. Since Gems are made of solid light, they just-- have their clothing as part of them.