5th [action and/or video network post]

[angewiesen]

[Jean has been spending most of his time either at Armin's Gym, or the Casa de Voltron, so this situation was entirely unavoidable. The ocean is everywhere, and he's the curious type, especially about Pokemon. It was only a matter of time before he was able to touch one of the swarming Basculegion.]

[His feelings on this situation were mixed.]

[The first person Jean saw was Marco. This alone unnerved him quite a bit. He wasn't sure if he should be elated, or frightened. On one hand, he still missed him terribly, and wanted to see him again. On the other, he was afraid that Marco would... disapprove, of the man he had become. When he was nothing but a memory, at least that was what he would stay. Forever.]

[It didn't help that his image couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be the young, freckled face he remembered, or the 3/4ths of a corpse he found lying on the streets of Trost.]

[Anyone is welcome to somehow find them speaking with each other again. (I could even contrive a reason for his gear to turn on without him noticing.)]

[If they're not in the neighborhood, however, they might see the post he makes some time later.]

These ghosts. How exactly are you supposed to get them to go away?

[Jean's expression is extremely tight with forced composure, and at this angle, with his back against a wall of some kind, only his own face can be seen.]

I don't want this anymore.

Comments

[angewiesen]

It's never been that cut and dry for me. Sure, I've killed people while protecting my squad, but usually it's just someone on the other side. They probably knew what they were getting into, but that doesn't mean they deserve to die.

Everybody's someone's son. Someone's brother. There's always someone left behind.

[nightyorb]

Sure. And there is also someone left behind if they go unchecked and kill someone else. And those people didn't get a choice.

[So far, all the situations Riz has gotten into were fairly clear cut in his opinion. Whether it's Daybreak and him wanting to bring about the apocalypse, Goldenhoard and his desire to take over Solace once again, or even just the pirates on Leviathan. They were dangerous and they needed to be taken out. And if there is blood on Riz's hands, then at least there isn't innocent blood on the floor.]

I don't know what you have fought people over, but the people I have dealt with were trying to start a goddamn apocalypse or take over entire countries. Those people are too dangerous to let live.

[angewiesen]

Okay, sure. Marley definitely treats Eldians like shit. I can hate Marley as a whole because of that. But individual soldiers? No. We're all just doing our jobs.

Hell, I can't even blame Marley for hating us. Titans are fucking terrifying. They're totally within their rights to think of us as monsters.

[nightyorb]

I'm not saying you need to hate them.

[Riz certainly hasn't hated everybody he killed. Certain people, yes. Other he simply deemed too dangerous to live, but he never had a personal hatred for them, just for what they stood for in general.]

I dunno, man. This is starting to feel like a philosophy discussion and there's probably better people to discuss those sort of things with. I'm not-- I'm not really good at those things.

[Talking about feelings and stuff. Life philosophies. That was Kristen's area of expertise.

Riz, meanwhile, didn't really want to turn into the sort of person who talked about the morals of doing something, or not doing something, while never actually committing to anything themselves. He'd figure out what this would all do for his eternal soul when he was dead.]

[angewiesen]

Fine. What I'm saying is, I'm not thrilled to be haunted by spectres of people I've killed, especially when I really had no personal beef with them to begin with.

I was raised in a world where human life was sacred, because every day was a struggle against impossible odds. It's a fucking waste for people to be killing each other, period.